Water
Windmills
In the sandhills of Nebraska the windmill provides livestock and wildlife with the lifeblood of nature - water. Windmills are the primary method of watering livestock on the Imig Ranch.
There are about 30 windmills on the Imig Ranch, most of them being 60-80 feet deep. The water usually comes up within 20 feet of the surface, thus pumping the last 10 feet to the surface is necessary but not cost prohibitive. There are very few days when there is not a sufficient breeze to pump the water necessary to maintain the water tanks for the livestock.
Click on the tabs below to see one of the
windmills/water tanks on the Imig Arapaho Ranch...
- Windmill #1
- Windmill #2
- Windmill #3
- Windmill #4
- Windmill #5
- Windmill #6
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| One of the many windmills with its accompanying tank on the Imig Arapaho Ranch. You are looking north across the east end of Snow Lake. Snow Lake is named after one of the homesteaders in the area. |
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| This is the same windmill as #1. It's just shows more of the country. You can see hay bales and surface water north of the windmill. The hayland is sub-irrigated. |
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| A windmill located west and south of the headquarters near a large hay meadow. With available water, hay and protection offered by one of the many shelter belts on the ranch, cattle have protection, feed and water during a storm. |
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| A windmill and tank in the fenceline to provide water to three pastures. |
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| Northeast of headquarters and east of Highway 250. |
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| Northeast of headquarters and east of Highway 250. A windmill and tank in one of the pastures used during the winter and early spring. Also, you can see a calf shelter and shelter belt for added protection. If you look close, there are also feed bunks on the north side of the calf shelter that can be used if weather dictates additional feed for livestock. |
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Irrigation
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| Irrigation on the Imig Arapaho Ranch is the best kind - natural! There are approximately 1,800 acres of sub-irrigated land that is used for hay meadows and pasture. |
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Ogallala Aquifer
The Ogallala Aquifer occupies the High Plains of the United States, extending northward from western Texas to South Dakota. The Ogallala is the leading geologic formation in the High Plains Aquifer System. The entire system underlies about 174,000 square miles of eight states.
The depth to the water table of the Ogallala Aquifer varies from the surface to 500 feet deep. Generally, the aquifer is found from 50 to 300 feet below the land surface. The saturated thickness varies greatly. Although the average saturated thickness is about 200 feet, it exceeds 1,000 feet in west-central Nebraska and is only one-tenth that in much of western Texas. Because both the saturated thickness and the areal extent of the Ogallala Aquifer is greater in Nebraska, the state accounts for two-thirds of the volume of Ogallala groundwater, followed by Texas and Kansas, each with about 10 percent. |
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