How did solar power help to reduce the cost of water pumping at Berembed cattle station?

Our farm has a team of four full-time staff, one of whom is a dedicated gardener responsible for the homestead grounds. In addition to this, we have around 1,000 breeding cows, which amounts to approximately 2,500-3,000 cattle on the property at any given time. Half of our 12,000-acre farm is used for grain production, while the other half is used for grazing. Our primary source of income in recent years has been from livestock, with five houses on the property to accommodate our staff.

Our biggest energy consumer is our water pump, which draws from a 60-metre borehole, but we only pump from 38 metres. This borehole supplies water to the homestead, staff quarters, livestock yards, and a five-acre garden, which requires a significant amount of water. Prior to setting up solar panels, our pump would run for most of the night to maximise water usage. Since installing solar panels, we've been able to water during the day, taking advantage of the energy being produced. Our power bills have been reduced by 30-40%, with a 50% reduction during summer months, making it very beneficial for our farm.

We have four staff full-time, one of those is a full-time gardener, he looks after the homestead grounds here. We have approximately a thousand breeding cows. That equates to about anything between 2,500 and 3,000 head of cattle on the property at any one time, and they tend to graze probably half that area. The other half of the area approximately 6,000 acres, we set aside for grain production, which is wheat and barley, canola, fava beans, those sorts of things. But yeah basically our main income in the last couple of years has been livestock. Predominantly I'd say the household use. I think there's five houses on the place that house the staff, et cetera.

Probably our biggest energy consumption's our water pump which is out of a borehole. The borehole is approximately 60 metres deep but we pump from about 38 metres. And fortunately that supplies basically all the water around all the homestead all the staff quarters, livestock, yards and this garden around here which is about five acres. So the garden actually consumes a lot of water, so the pump in prior time before we set the solar up, was running pretty well a lot of the nighttime. We used to water overnight so we could maximise our water usage. Since we've got the solar on we've tended to swap around a bit. Now we're watering a lot during the day, take advantage of the energy that's being produced during the day.