Land drainage business William Moorfoot has been working on a farm situated on a block of low lying land which has a need for water levels to be very sensitively managed by a series of pumps, ditch systems and land drains in order to control water levels.
The farm is situated on land near to the North Sea coast and has a range of soil types – many of which possess slow draining credentials which can lead to problems with crop establishment/development if unmanaged. The soils are however highly productive if correctly looked after and the farm has embarked on a drainage investment program over several years to address some the drainage issues which are present. This will maximise the yield potential of crops and ultimately deliver better long term financial margins to the farm business as a result.
William Moorfoot was involved form an early stage and have undertaken detailed surveys over the farm area to understand water flows and ground levels which in turn have allowed them to build an accurate picture of precisely what is happening on the farm from a drainage perspective.
Part of this work has identified some key strategic points within the farmland area which were not served by adequate facilities to control water levels. Specifically, the pumping infrastructure that was in place was old and outdated and therefore in need of replacement. William Moorfoot was tasked with getting new infrastructure in place on the farm to better serve the drainage needs of the land going forwards and installing another pumping station at the farm to replace the original pump which had become very unreliable and problem prone – which had resulted in drainage issues on the surrounding arable land.
The new high capacity pump is fully automated and works round the clock to hold the water levels down at pre-specified levels. The pump embraces the latest pumping technology and effortlessly moves water in an efficient way – meaning that the running/management costs to the farm are much lower.
Moorfoot was involved at both the design and build stages and its team has been installing all of the associated infrastructure and carrying out the preliminary checks to ensure that everything is functioning in the way it should be. The associated infrastructure included installing a bespoke/pre-cast chamber and a set of gabion baskets along the ditch banks near to the pump to prevent unnecessary erosion in the pumping area.
Moorfoot says the works have been completed on time and to budget with a happy farm manager having the important area of management under a much tighter control for the time when the rains return!
To find out more about William Moorfoot Land Drainage projects go to https://williammorfoot.co.uk/
