"Water Drag" Drains Sloughs, Potholes

"Water Drag" Drains Sloughs, Potholes MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous 24-5-20 "We had a lot of potholes on our farm and I just got tired of having to work around them," says Rodney Clay, Langenburg, Sask., who came up with what he calls a "water drag" to solve the problem. The patent pending water drag is a 25-ft. wide steel frame designed to be pulled by a 150-ft. cable behind a tractor. The tractor driver pulls the drag up next to the water hole, and then drives the tractor around to the other side. Then the drag is pulled through the water. It pushes water ahead of it as the driver pulls the drag out onto surrounding crop land. A pair of baffles, one on each side, close off the ends of the drag. Once the water reaches the same speed as the drag, gravity takes over and a layer of water escapes under the back and sides. "It collects up to 4,500 gallons of water," at a time," says Clay. "After the water is redistributed, the water hole is often dry enough that you can bale hay through it later on. The tractor always stays on dry ground, traveling across the field going around the pothole while the drag goes through the middle, rolling the water forward. A big benefit is that the drag doesn't create ruts and it levels gopher mounds along the way. "The best time to use the drag on hay fields is just as the grass is coming through the surface. The drag also works well on fields with standing stubble. The drag slides well on the vertical straw stalks." Sells for about $8,300 (Canadian). Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Clay Agra Systems, Box 795, Langenburg, Sask., Canada S0A 2A0 (ph 306 743-2996; E-mail: jclay.dsk@sk.sympatico.ca)

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