Todd Sill recognized the new meter on Larry Byrd’s 200 horsepower diesel pump the first time he saw the photograph. The meter was shown in an image attached to the 4Creeks investigation into Byrd’s irrigation practices on the AB La Grange Ranch, which is just west of the historic community of La Grange, nestled in the southeastern foothills of Stanislaus County.
While the new meter caught Sill’s attention, it was Tim Byrd’s testimony at last year’s December 16th meeting of the Modesto Irrigation District (MID) that piqued his interest dramatically.
“Tim said there was never any meter on that pump before the new one,” said Sill last Monday. “Then he said it again on at the meeting on February 17th.”
As the man who ran the pump, opened and closed the valves on the irrigation pipes, and kept records of when and why it was operating, Todd Sill knows better.
“There was always a flow meter on that pump when I was on the ranch,” said Sill. “I don’t know where Tim got the idea there was no meter.”
As a Boalt Law graduate and career Gallo attorney, it’s unlikely Tim Byrd has fabricated his claims about the flow meter. Sill says Byrd rarely visited the ranch in any case. It’s most likely that Byrd has relied on claims by Larry Byrd himself that the pump had no meter. Tim and his brother Larry are partners on the AB La Grange Ranch with Ty Angle.
Tim’s (Larry’s?) claims about the meter are belied by Todd Sill’s meticulous journal records, including notes recording when he turned the pump on and off, most always for frost control.
“We hardly ever used that pump for irrigation,” said Sill. “When we did, I had to close valve nine just to get enough power to send water uphill toward that out-of-district orchard, which was a long way away. We did irrigate with the diesel one dry winter when the trees needed just a little moisture. That’s one of the few times we used the diesel on those out-of-district trees.”
While 200 horsepower may seem more than enough to irrigate the 96 acres of out-of-district trees that were the focal point for the 4Creeks investigation, Todd Sill’s longtime friend, known heretofore and proceeding as, “the Tall Cowboy,” explains why it was such a struggle to deliver water to those distant trees.
“A 200 horse diesel pump don’t deliver as much water as a 200 horse electric pump,” said the Tall Cowboy after being asked why the diesel was so inefficient.
“Not only that,” he said, “it costs a lot more to run diesel than electric. If a farmer has to choose based on cost and power only, he’s gonna choose electric.”
“You can tell a lot from the irrigation plans,” said the Tall Cowboy. “If you look at the setup on the AB La Grange, it’s obvious the 250 horse pump was meant to cover all the in- and out-of-district trees. In-district, there’s 367 acres. There’s another 96 or 97 acres out-of-district. When you figure one horse per acre for an electric pump, it’s obvious that electric pump was designed to irrigate all the trees in two sets. If they meant to use the diesel for the out-of-district trees, they must have overbuilt on the electric pump and underbuilt on the diesel. To a farmer, that don’t make any sense, especially when you know how much water had to be pumped uphill by the diesel.”
The irrigation plans are one of many missing elements in the 4Creeks investigation. Investigators say they were permitted to look at the plans via a zoom call, but that no physical or digital copies were provided.
Another curious feature of the investigation is the lack of records of any of the interviews 4Creeks did with former employees, one of whom remembered very well the meter that was on that diesel pump when Todd Sill asked him about it.
“There was a meter on that diesel pump when I left the ranch in 2023,” said Sill, “and a guy I worked with remembers it too. That pump was happiest when it was running at 850 gallons a minute. It would take four or five days to irrigate those out-of-district trees.”
Sill did remember irrigating the out-of-district trees one winter and has notes showing that December irrigation. His claim that it would take four or five days running at higher speeds is supported by common knowledge: a 200 horsepower diesel pump operating at 850 gallons per minute will generally deliver just under four acre-feet of water per day. Higher speeds will produce as much as 2,000 gallons per minute. The out-of-district trees were slightly uphill and relatively distant from the diesel pump. A 200 horsepower diesel pump pulling groundwater from a deep well would have had to work at very high capacity to irrigate 96 uphill acres.
Ordinarily during an investigation of such great consequence as 4Creeks, conflicting testimony would be thoroughly investigated and the differing versions of the truth resolved under oath. The investigation concluded that Larry Byrd could not have watered his out-of-district trees with well water. It should have added that at least two eyewitnesses were and are available to add specific detail about how and when those trees were actually watered.
Todd Sill says he’s ready to produce his journal records as soon as he’s asked to. There’s a co-worker who will corroborate his testimony.
Meanwhile, says Todd Sill, “It sure is convenient that meter disappeared when it did. Mighty convenient.”