TechnologyFreePrintable

Lateral Move Irrigation Overview

A free technology worksheet ready for your classroom. Open in Kuraplan to grab the print-ready PDF, customize it for your students, or generate a fresh version in seconds.

Download now

Name:Date:

Lateral Move Irrigation Overview

A farm in Aotearoa New Zealand is planning irrigation for a rectangular paddock. Use the information on this worksheet to explain how a lateral move system works and make a practical layout recommendation. Show your working for calculations.

How the system works

A lateral move irrigator is a self-propelled machine that moves sideways across a field while applying water. It usually travels in straight, parallel passes. Because it does not follow a circular route, it can suit square or rectangular paddocks and irrigate close to the corners. Its actual coverage depends on the field layout, water supply, machine width and any obstacles.

1.Which description best matches a lateral move irrigator?

It moves in a straight path across the paddock while sprinklers apply water.
It stays in one place and waters only a small circle.
It rotates around a central point to make a circular pattern.
It is a handheld sprinkler carried around the paddock.

2.A farm has a rectangular paddock. Explain one reason a lateral move system may use the paddock area more effectively than a centre pivot system.

3.A lateral move irrigator normally travels around a central pivot and irrigates in a circle. Write true or false, then correct the statement if it is false.

TrueFalse

4.A lateral move irrigator makes a series of passes across the paddock.

Plan the paddock coverage

For the next questions, use this planning scenario: a rectangular paddock is 400 m long and 200 m wide. The irrigator applies water across a 20 m-wide strip on each pass. Assume the strips meet edge to edge, with no overlap or missed areas.

5.Using the planning scenario, how many 20 m-wide passes are needed to cover the 200 m width? Show the division you use.

6.Draw a simple plan view of the 400 m by 200 m paddock. Add the irrigator's straight, parallel passes across the width, show an arrow for its direction of travel, and label the paddock dimensions. Your sketch should show the 10 passes needed.

7.Calculate the area of the paddock in hectares. Use 1 hectare = 10,000 m². Show your working.

8.A line of trees runs across one side of the paddock and could block the irrigator's route. Name one practical way to address this constraint when planning the system.

9.The farm manager wants good coverage of the paddock corners but is concerned about the cost of installing water supply lines. Recommend whether to investigate a lateral move system further. Give one benefit and one factor the manager should check before deciding.