A field day showing farmers what the Hunter Downs Irrigation Scheme could do for them attracted about 70 people last week.
Ross and Nigel Rathgen hosted the day at their Otaio farm. They started converting to dairying five years ago and are in the middle of another conversion.
Ross Rathgen is a director of the Hunter Downs project, which has consent to use up to 20.5cumecs from the Waitaki River in a 60,000ha command area from Waimate to Otipua. It has $640,000 from the Ministry for Primary Industries' Irrigation Acceleration Fund to help pay for engineering design, an investigation into landowner demand and a fundraising prospectus.
Ross Rathgen said his 1400ha had 1000ha under irrigation, with 280ha used for dairying, 750ha in cropping and 340ha in grazing.
When he first put in guns and K-line irrigation, the economics seemed ''borderline''. Looking back, the cost was low compared with the benefits.
Dry stock is run on the parts of the farm unsuitable for cropping. The areas of undulating contour and shallow soils are in dairying.
Nigel Rathgen said putting in pivot irrigation was ''a serious undertaking''. It took two weeks' full-time work to dig the trenches, but the biggest issue was the power supply.
It cost just under $700,000 for six pivots and $1.3 million altogether. The pivots cost $2300 per hectare and bores $1100 per hectare.
''It was well worth it. We're happy with it now.''
He recommended shopping around for an irrigation supplier and warned that earthwork costs could ''blow out''. For example, it could be cheaper to put in another pivot than to remove a hill.
Ryegrass was the main crop grown under irrigation. It was grazed before it was closed up, straw was made, and it was grazed again afterwards. Silage was taken off about 80ha last year.
A feed pad at the dairy farm prevented pasture pugging and another would be installed with the second conversion.
Dairy manager Trevor Gee said he designed the new paddock layout in pie format to fit with the pivots, hills and shed location. The cows would be divided into three herds of 500 cows, with one person milking each herd. A 64-bale concrete shed and staff quarters would be installed.
The feed pad would hold 1000 cows and the yard another 500.
In the future, the Rathgens would look at linking all their pivots via computer.
Macfarlane Rural Business consultant Hugh Eaton said if farmers wanted to expand, they had to weigh up buying or leasing more land or putting water on their existing property.
''On dry land, you can have bad years. Profit can vary greatly year by year, and there is high risk. You have to have a very good year to keep the average up. With irrigation, there is less fluctuation.''
Mr Eaton had modelled scenarios in the Hunter Downs catchment but said every farm was different and each farmer had to factor in personal preferences and strengths.
ANZ representative Michael Royston said irrigation could alleviate farmers' stress by making conditions more reliable, but a change of mindset was needed to farm irrigated land.
By increasing production and creating jobs, it could help with farm succession without the need to buy more land.
''I have yet to meet a farmer who regretted putting in irrigation,'' he said.