Anyone live in Wheatland, WY? (food, areas, charge)

[DGPNCA]

I was in Google earth and was wondering what those small round yellowish looking marks are on the ground south of Wheatland at Rock Lake Road and South Wheatland Hwy just off the Hwy to the east?

And while I'm at it. What are those large green circles?

[ElkHunter]

The large green circles are irrigation systems. You know, the ones on big wheels that go around in a circle.

If you're talking about the patterns straight east of Rock Lake Road on the East side of the highway, there's a rock quarry over there where they've been using a scraper to gather with.

[ruggedindividual]

Originally Posted by DGPNCA

And while I'm at it. What are those large green circles?

Center-pivot irrigation systems. Probably the most effective way to irrigate certain crops, if geography allows for it. We actually use these systems to discharge water from the coal-bed methane wells, as long as the sodium content is within limits.

From the ground:
http://www.wtamu.edu/~crobinson/Irrigation/pivot1s.jpg (broken link)

From the sky:

[DGPNCA]

Oh thanks for the info about the crop circles. I've seen them scattered about the US sometimes in very remote places. Wonder how they get the water supply in the desert areas. What types of crops are they mainly?

[ElkHunter]

In the area of Wheatland, it's anything from alphafa to small grains, wheat, barley, flax, etc...

[ukulima]

think of farming in africa most in kenya ,wher maize is stabler food , hppy to see tis

[NVDave]

Originally Posted by DGPNCA

Oh thanks for the info about the crop circles. I've seen them scattered about the US sometimes in very remote places. Wonder how they get the water supply in the desert areas. What types of crops are they mainly?

In desert areas, you drill irrigation wells. Typically they're 24" in diameter, cased down to 16" in diameter. They're 50 to maybe 800 feet deep (they physically could go deeper, but in most areas of the country, the economics of lifting water that high overwhelms any profit you might make on the crop). These wells produce anywhere from 700 to 1200 GPM for a 1/4 mile long pivot.

In the picture above, the tank to the right of the pivot is a chemigation tank - ie, chemicals (either fertilizer or pesticides) are injected into the water as it enters the pivot. Doing this saves fuel - the pivot is already going over the field, so why bother taking a tractor or sprayer over the same ground?

Crops - hay, grains, corn, beans, all manner of things. You see mostly field crops - not fruits or vegetables.