To irrigate our hay fields, water is diverted from the creek that goes by our house into a canal system
When the spring melt is on our creek CAN flood - as seen by this picture.
It is the irrigater's job to open these "gates" and water the field 
Riley dog was immediately able to locate the dead porcupine ....an irrigater's helper!
All in all, with a view like this, it's not a bad job in the summer!It requires a lot of water to produce crops in this high desert country. Wyoming has miles of irrigation canals and ditches that carry the much needed water to farmers and ranchers. It is then the farmer/rancher's job to get it on his field. This is called "irrigating" by some and "irritating" by others. When it goes well it is very satisfying, when it doesn't you are allowed to use lots of colorful words.
When the spring melt is on our creek CAN flood - as seen by this picture.
We have canal headgates (slides that open and close) on our property that are opened up to release water into gated pipe (10 or 12 inch round PVC pipes with little "gates" every 3 feet or so that open and close).
There are LOTS of variables that can make this fun... or not...you tend to get very wet at some point, and on a 90 degree day - not so bad.
It is necessary to "flush" the pipes at the first of the season to wash out any residual mud, sticks, etc. left over from the last year. Every so often you get a surprise - this year it was a partially decomposed porcupine which we could not dislodge, so we had to replace that section of pipe.
