Dairy and feedyard country
Curry County, New Mexico has 22 dairies and about 73,000 cows. Roosevelt County has 23 more. Across the line, Parmer, Castro, Deaf Smith, Lamb and Bailey counties all rank in the top 75 dairy counties in the country, and the Hereford area feeds more than a million head of cattle a year across 35-plus feedyards.
Every one of those operations runs on groundwater. Texas A&M AgriLife puts direct water use at about 65 gallons per cow per day.
RK Drilling is based in Farwell, on the state line next to Texico and Clovis, and drills for dairies and feedyards on both sides of the line.
What we drill for dairies and feedyards
- Supply wells
- Backup wells
- Feedyard supply wells for pens and livestock water
- Replacement wells
Our rig is a DrillMax 450 mud rotary. Drilling fluid holds the hole open in the sand and gravel of the Ogallala until the casing, screen and gravel pack are set, and the well is then developed.
Water rights and permits for dairy wells
The Curry County and Portales underground water basins are closed to new appropriations. That doesn’t stop dairy drilling; it means new wells are filed as replacement, supplemental or change-of-location wells against the dairy’s existing rights through the Office of the State Engineer’s Roswell district office.
On the Texas side, any well over 17.5 gallons per minute needs a High Plains Water District permit.
We provide answers to questions regarding permits in both states.
Drilling is our business
RK Drilling is a drilling contractor. We drill the well. The pump is installed by a pump installer.