New farm... Finding livestock water lines across 126ac?

[bcp]

If you are lucky, you might search through older aerial photos on Google Earth Pro and see some lines across fields.

Your county might have aerial photos taken in different years, too.

Bruce

 

[Complete Turf Care]

If you are lucky, you might search through older aerial photos on Google Earth Pro and see some lines across fields.

Your county might have aerial photos taken in different years, too.

Bruce

I have used Google Earth Pro and have been successful finding water lines. But, it would have to have been installed fairly recently. By recently, I mean within the past 20 years or so. It's worth a try and is easy and free.

 

[bcp]

Maybe something here.

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Bruce

 

[newbury]

OP -
Have you contacted the "local" govt. agencies that deal with property taxes, soil, survey, wetlands, etc. and also whoever "local" might have flown it for aerial imagery?
Like BCP wrote, it might be there.
There's a chance that the it had been covered "shortly" (a year or two") after the pipe was installed and it will show up on imagery.

 

[WinterDeere]

Call me simple, but I'd just dig next to the first waterer, and find out what direction the supply line is pointing. It's not like the prior owner would be pulling pipe in S-curves.

As to using a tone/tracer, yes it can be done with plastic pipe. You just need to back fill with something conductive (eg. salt water), and connect your tone source to something metal in contact with the water (eg. valve). Attenuation will likely be too high to trace it very far, but again... they're probably run in nearly-straight lines.

So, I'm supposing you can't talk to the prior owner? What about a neighbor, who might have been friendly enough to know the property, or a prior employee of the farm?

 

[plowhog]

I have faced the same issue for years.

A neighbor advised me to "witch" the water in the pipes and said it would work. I have not tried that.

I've considered cutting a pipe, then feeding a transmitter in while sensing it from above. Of course you would have to find a pipe first, which you could do with equipment pulled behind a tractor.

My neighbor has a giant hook he can put on the back of his tractor, then force it down. He calls it the "non-discriminating utility line locator."

Not any good answers as far as I know.

 

[JPRambo]

You can trace pvc pipe with water in it. Using two pieces of wire about 12 inches long. Bend them about three inches from one end at 90°. Hold the short ends in loose fists, long ends parallel to the ground. Walk around they will cross each other as you walk above any pipe, wire etc..

 

[WinterDeere]

You can trace pvc pipe with water in it. Using two pieces of wire about 12 inches long. Bend them about three inches from one end at 90°. Hold the short ends in loose fists, long ends parallel to the ground. Walk around they will cross each other as you walk above any pipe, wire etc..

Only if you're a witch.

Dowsing - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Fixastuff]

I locate stuff every day for work. I give the witch sticks 50/50. I see people who claim to be experts at it sometimes and you can clearly see their wrists tilting when the wires cross.

This is the locator I own and use.

Utiliguard 2 - Subsite Electronics

www.subsite.com

 

[Too many Kubotas]

A simple Pipe Finder (about $15 several years ago) will find pipes, wires, just about anything buried within five or six feet, in my experience.

It'll find it, but it's up to you to figure out what you found.