Water News Archive

The key to knowing the correct setting for a chemigation pump is to first determine how many acres per hour the pivot will cover at the desired irrigation application depth or rate.

Drought is a common occurrence in Nebraska. The UNL Beef Drought Management Planning page is designed to help beef producers design a drought management plan and to provide ideas to consider before and during a drought.

Every month the UNL Animal Manure Management Team produces graphics on the benefits of manure application and manure best practices and we want your help sharing them. The graphics are for educational purposes and for use by the public. Oftentimes the graphics we create include a link to an article featured on the UNL manure website, manure.unl.edu.

Water quantity and quality is critical to cattle health and performance. Hot weather and drought conditions can impact both water quality and quantity for cattle. How Much Water Do Cattle Need? There is an easy answer, and there is a right answer. A general guideline is that lactating cows need two gallons of water per 100 pounds of body weight per day.

The estimated crop water use for Nebraska Panhandle crops for the previous week and the upcoming week is shown in this table. It is based on data gathered and calculations made by Gary Stone, Nebraska Extension educator, and Dr. Xin Qiao, extension irrigation and water management specialist, both based at the UNL Panhandle Research and Extension Center in Scottsbluff.

Weekly Weather Update: June 8, 2023

Study Reviews Farmer Irrigation Scheduling Tendencies in Dry Years.

Early Season Irrigation During Drought

Estimated Crop Water Use for June 5-11, 2023

Featuring the Republican River, which holds the record for the worst flood in Nebraska history.

Part 3 of the Nebraska Rivers series focuses on the Loup River drainage system, which originates in the Sandhills.

Water is life! In Nebraska, approximately 85 percent of people receive their drinking water from groundwater resources. This includes individual homeowners living in suburban and rural areas, as well as the majority of towns and cities across the state. Because of Nebraska’s relative wealth of groundwater resources, we often tend to overlook the vital role water plays in the everyday lives of Nebraskans and our state as a whole.

One of the most important factors in getting plants off to a good start is watering. Overall, the best guidance is to water to the bottom of the roots and to keep the roots of new plants moist, not soggy or dry. Inserting a screwdriver into the soil will help with determining the moisture content by gaining a sense required to push it in and also to feel the soil particles that stick to the blade. If they feel muddy, then water is likely being applied too often; if it’s dry and powdery, then it needs to be applied more frequently.

Part 2 of a six-part series that will cover the major rivers and their respective drainages found in Nebraska, with some geography and history about Nebraska’s rivers.

The Soil Health Nexus is excited to debut two new resources on the Soil Health Toolbox! Two Soil Health Nexus members, Francisco Arriaga, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Anna Cates, Assistant Professor and State Soil Health Specialist at the University of Minnesota, recently published a long-awaited whitepaper exploring the connection between soil health and water quality.

This year’s 4Rs Field Day will focus on up-to-date research information and demonstrations on all three major crop nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Industry experts shared snowpack/snowmelt runoff estimates for the upper North Platte River basin, updates on UNL irrigation management research and progress on replacing the Goshen/Gering-Ft Laramie tunnels that collapsed in 2019.

Extension recommendations for calculating the amount of nitrate-nitrogen in irrigation water and optimal timing of applications to reduce the cost of nitrogen inputs in irrigated corn.

This new series by Nebraska Extension Educator Gary Stone highlights the main rivers in Nebraska and their impacts across the Midwest and Northern Plains. Part 1 of a six-part series that will cover the major rivers and their respective drainages found in Nebraska, with some geography and history about Nebraska’s rivers.

This week — Strategies for irrigating alfalfa in early season dry soil conditions, grazing to control abundant weed growth due to drought and forming a drought plan.