As someone with experience in NE irrigation, I'll try to give my thoughts/opinions.
The well data, is probably what the well is registered for, the 'official' ratings, from when it was dug. What it actually pumps, is dependant on things like how the initial reading was taken. For example, did they originally furrow irrigate, and the 1200GPM was at 'zero' pressure? If so, the GPMs will be less, since the pivot requires a certain amount of pressure to operate, and as PSI goes up, GPM goes down. Also, no idea how old the pump is, as wear will make it pump less, as well.
Also, whatever the irrigated acres read now, are likely all the water rights that they have to use, so if the well is more than plenty to water that field, they cannot irrigate anything else, without buying more water rights (another $1500-$2000 per acre). By this, I mean if the well is registered to water 131 acres, that is likely all that it can water, even if the well itself is able to pump more than that, so if they wanted to water an adjacent field with that well, they would have that additional expense.
The well itself seems like a good one, with less than 20 feet of drawdown at 1200GPM. A pumping depth of under 70 feet, is a bonus, as it will be cheaper to pull, and take less power to get the water to the top, compared to a deeper well. Right now Natural Gas is about as cheap as anything, to power a well/pivot with. They will need to replace the cooling coil. as it has an obvious Mickey-Mouse patch on it right now. Cost $1000-$1500, which is probably chicken feed, considering the selling price.
