ANDREW Harmon had good reason to want an efficient and long-term water storage and distribution system - he needed to protect a valuable Angus breeding herd.
Andrew, 71, lives at Berwick, but farms 272ha on properties located between Kilcunda and Inverloch in South Gippsland.
In 2002, Andrew bought Doondi, a property being used to farm deer, about 4km northeast of Inverloch.
The watering system in place at Doondi was based on a spring-fed dam, supplying water pumped to a series of 910-litre round concrete troughs via a 45,500-litre header tank.
Andrew overhauled that system and now believes he has created one that will supply the property's annual 250-head stock average for three years with minimal rain.
Andrew was a "can-do" bloke with a rural background when he migrated from Ireland to Adelaide in 1964.
He said coming to Australia was one of his best life decisions. He has worked hard since his arrival and built a business in residential property development.
At Doondi, Andrew has worked smarter, rather than harder, to improve the farm's water-supply system and has recycled the existing water distribution pipe network where feasible.
The effort to improve the system was straightforward, but still involved expense and some heavy lifting, as existing stock troughs and two main pumps had to be replaced.
Andrew installed 12 new 2275-litre capacity round concrete troughs on to the sites of the existing 910-litre troughs.
Each of these new troughs was placed on a gravel base to make it level and stable.
Each of the troughs has chains to suspend the floats that regulate the inlet valve's water flow.
"The cattle can bend the floats with the stiff outlet arms - that's why I like the chains," Andrew said.
Andrew installed an Onga JJ600-1-type pressure pump that draws water out of his dam and feeds it to a header tank via a 51mm polythene plastic pipe.
This pump can draw water from a depth of 40m if required and, on Doondi, it pushes water uphill to a header tank about 400m away.
Andrew said he also had an Onga OJ700-1 pump that distributed the water to the troughs across the property and gave "terrific pressure" to fill them quickly.
This pump feeds water from a header tank to the troughs via a 38mm poly pipe network.
Andrew said he also used this pump as a "leak indicator" - if it doesn't run regularly when the stock starts drinking, he asks why.
"I listen to the pump to see if it's running," Andrew said.
"If it doesn't run, then you know you have a leak somewhere."
Andrew took the opportunity offered by the recent prolonged spells of dry weather to regularly clean the five surface dams on Doondi.
He said he wanted to make sure Doondi's stock water supply was as clean as possible, so he was working to stop the cattle from directly accessing the main dams.
"Cattle drinking out of dams is bad news," Andrew said.
"They can make a big mess."
To encourage wildlife and to ensure Doondi's main dam remains clean, Andrew plans to plant thousands of trees and bushes around it.
He intends to completely plant out around the property's biggest 1.21ha surface area dam this year.
