land drains - cost

[Polos Mum]

Hi knowledgeable people.

Just looking for people's experiences of the price of putting in land drainage.
After the worst winter ever I'm looking at being proactive ready for next year.

Is there a rough ball park price per m?

We've just had one quote and not sure if stone is hugely expensive or if the 'horse' inflationary effect has kicked in. I just can't imagine farmers paying that sort of price

 

[YourValentine]

What sort of drains were you quoted for?

Most farm land drains were put in in the 70s when there was funding for it.
These were/are semi permeable pipes with outflows into a boundary ditch. They are not cheap to install as you need to equipment to bury a pipe at 20-30cm so it won't be damaged by machinery/livestock etc in the future.
US video of whats involved

Gravel ditches for drainage will also be expensive because of the manpower required to dig them and the gravel to fill them (will need at least 2 sizes of gravel to be effective).

Do you own the land? How big an area do you want to drain and soil type?

 

[Highmileagecob]

If you have any neighbouring farmers, can you go and have a chat with them? Ask if they know anyone who can give you a quote. As you say, farmers don't usually pay extortionate bills, and some of them may have equipment to help you out.

 

[PurBee]

It wouldnt be feasible for there to be an average price per m, as there’s so many variables, as all land is individual in the way it needs draining.

Cleaned graded stone is expensive though - even our cheap as chips guy who gets it from the local quarry charges around €350 for @10-12 tonnes.
I forget how many loads we needed to complete some of our hundreds of metres of drains….it was a fortune, and we did the work ourselves.

Depending on the suitability of the fields needing draining - there is the perforated (generally 4 inch for regular land drains) black pipe covered with ‘stocking net’ sleeve drainage method, which is laid with a machine direct into the ground, without the need for digging ditches or back-filling with stone.
Some companies will lay the perforated pipe direct into the ground without the sleeve, using a drain plunging machine, but those perforations do allow silt through, and it wouldnt take long for a mere 4 inches to be filled with silt and stop working as drains. The stocking net covering prevents fine silt getting into the drain pipe, acting like a filter, allowing only water through.

The premise with this method to work effectively, is that the topsoil has a loamy type and really be fairly well-draining to start with, so the pipe laid 1.5-2 foot deep is able to capture the water flowing through and down the soil. The cavity space that the drain pipe takes up is ‘negative pressure’ so it attracts excess water into it.

If you had clay topsoil, that forms a type of sticky impermeable pan on top, holding the water above, not allowing water through to even get to the pipe laid below, so the stocking pipe instant laid-drain method wouldnt suit clay soil.

If you have surrounding land that drains onto your land - those affected fields are best perimeter drained with a large open drain, to intercept water coming from elsewhere. That is the most effective drainage you can have if that is occurring on your land.

For flat fields that dont have much of a self-draining slope - the proper method are herringbone drain systems that are spaced about 10 metres apart from one another - again, which type of drain is needed for herringbone method on flat land depends on soil type. You could use sleeved pipe or piped stone filled trenches.

Ultimately though, there are limits to what some fields can take in terms of agri-use, usually dependent on soil type. Horses are heavy animals and there’s no drainage system in the world that will keep clay soil un-poachable and dry all 12 months of the year, for 24/7 grazing. Management systems of the land for conservative use of ‘compromised soil’ fields is the ultimate solution.
I knew someone who had stone drains AND covered the whole field with small stones, then put topsoil ontop, to literally ‘build’ the perfect field. That’s going too far for me, and i’d rather sell and buy the ideal land than build it from scratch!

If you have sloping land, youll find a few interceptor ditches installed every 30-50 metres will really help. If your soil is clay-like you’d want stone, if its loamy, then the instant laid drain stocking pipe should work well.

The stocking pipe is pricey - but measured against drain stone prices and the absolute mess diggers make of land, you might find prices even-out. The stocking pipe is a 1 pass job, not churning up your grass with digger tracks going back and forth, and is a much quicker job.

But if you do have land that is receiving rainwater flow from surrounding roads/lands, perimeter open drains digger dug, will make a huge difference alone. We initially did perimeter drains and they work very well. There is a flat field that the surrounding fields were draining onto - it was a soggy mess all year round. The perimeter drain has done a fab job of intercepting thousands of gallons of rainwater and drying the field up which has transformed it to be now be a decent paddock.

 

[tristars]

i would just have drainage ditches around the fields, and make some hard standing areas

much cheaper and we have 40 acres of drained by pipes and open drains and it still gets to wet and muddy point well after this winter it has

depends lot on soil and water table

 

[Sprogladite01]

I've just had quotes for various drainage related things - I was given a ballpark of £4k per drain to go in my 1.5 acres of clay and told I'd need 4 of them.
We are exploring other options

 

[Polos Mum]

Thanks all - sounds like a rethink here too!

 

[millitiger]

We're looking at doing it ourselves but only a small winter turnout paddock- couldn't afford doing the whole 7 acres or face the work required.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

We had a land drain collapse a few years ago. A local farmer advised us not to replace it. Instead we bought some mud control mats and used them in the area to provide hard standing outside the field shelter. We have just started planting hedging saplings all round the boundary (well getting someone else to do it). We planted some several years ago and the made a huge difference to the wettest corners.

 

[PurBee]

We had a land drain collapse a few years ago. A local farmer advised us not to replace it. Instead we bought some mud control mats and used them in the area to provide hard standing outside the field shelter. We have just started planting hedging saplings all round the boundary (well getting someone else to do it). We planted some several years ago and the made a huge difference to the wettest corners.

That’s what we’ve found too - wherever there are small trees/ hedgerows of hawthorn and willow, the ground is much drier, even in winter. The leaves that drop in autumn rot down helping to balance the soil and build a really good loam, enabling good grass rooting, making the pasture stronger for heavier animals.

 

[Birker2020]

There is a fairly strong association between soil disturbance and grass sickness. You might want to bear that in mind. Sorry to put you off further, just felt its better to make you aware, just in case

Potential management practices which may reduce the risk of grass sickness – Equine Grass Sickness Fund

www.grasssickness.org.uk

 

[Polos Mum]

Thanks all - we only want the bottom edge next to the fence to protect the veg garden below it on the slope. We have so much water this year that it came through the mole channels and up out of the ground like mini fountains when the rain was heavy.
It's a field they only use Xmas to March so if we get something done when (IF !!) if dries, it can settle for c. six months before they go on it.

Given the price of stone I may just go for an open shallow ditch and expect to have to rebuild it every year ! - It's only about 50 m to the main drain that is already there

 

[PurBee]

Thanks all - we only want the bottom edge next to the fence to protect the veg garden below it on the slope. We have so much water this year that it came through the mole channels and up out of the ground like mini fountains when the rain was heavy.
It's a field they only use Xmas to March so if we get something done when (IF !!) if dries, it can settle for c. six months before they go on it.

Given the price of stone I may just go for an open shallow ditch and expect to have to rebuild it every year ! - It's only about 50 m to the main drain that is already there

A ‘V-shaped’ ditch tends to remain stable, rather than standard digger bucket U-shape. There are some digger hire firms that supply a V-shaped ditch bucket attachment specific for the job.
There’s many very old wide v shaped ditches surrounding my area that were hand-dug once-upon-a-time. It’s possible to nibble away at hand-digging ditches, and you’d be amazed how much you’d get done. I’ve done a lot on this land, and only enjoy it because im a bit of a mole and enjoy working with soil, seeing different soil types the further i dig

Thats amazing to hear your mole drains turned into fountains! Mole draining is a good alternative, and far more cheaply/quickly done in diagonal stripes across a field. They need re-doing every so often but certainly help for at least 2 yrs. I did a 3 acre field in one afternoon with a small compact tractor, when conditions were right. It didnt create too much disturbance of the top grass/soil, so can be used practically straight away. It really helped that field and the horses fair well on it.

 

[Chuffy99]

Depending on location, our contractor used cockle shells