Post by anthonyg on May 1, 2016 19:56:48 GMT -5
I was wondering what kind of water system is recommended for a family milk cow.
My goals:
1) have a portable system that can follow the cow around as it rotates through pastures. Also, we plan to keep sheep with cow.
2) Have a freeze proof water system in the barn for winter, though it would be nice to have a freeze proof water system that is out on pasture, too.
My situation:
My farm (11 acres) is like a right triangle where the barn, well, and house are all in the middle of the long side. I have a submersible well pump that can provide water to a hose in the barn. I turn the pump off when I don't want the water and it drains (siphons actually) back into the well and so the above ground piping/hose never freezes. It means that there is no constant water pressure so valves on the tank are no good. I have electricity in the barn so I could keep a 50-100 gallon tank always in a liquid state with a tank de-icer. I was wondering if anyone has built an insulated stock tank with wood or foam or something floating on top to help insulate it. Is this worth the trouble?
The longest distance from the well to a reasonable placement of a portable water tank is 300 feet or so, which is pretty long for a hose I think. Maybe I am wrong about this. I would think a half-way durable 3/4 hose would weight well over a hundred pounds to carry that distance. But I guess it could work. The pump is turned on a off so the tank needs to be minded while the pump is running.
The animal demands will be a Jersey cow and her calf and up to 30 Shetland sheep. We tote our chicken water from our kitchen everyday and have never had a problem.
I live in Southern Indiana and we get pretty hot humid summers where a lot of water is needed and last winter it went down to -5 and it was in the single digits for weeks.
We try to keep animals on pasture as much as possible, but plan on bringing them into the barn during storms (we get pretty vicious storms a few times a year) or in cold winter weather. We plan of feeding hay for 3 months or more and store up 6 months worth.
We do plan paddocks for winter grazing. We plant oats/turnips in August to be grazed in the nice weather of November and December. We then frost seed these paddocks into red clover and timothy for hayfields. We also plant rye following our half-acre vegetable garden to be grazed in nice weather spells in winter or and in early spring. So having water supplies for cold weather grazing is important, though I am not sure what the water needs really are. I know goats and beef cattle drink very little in these situations compared to summer time and we used half-55 gallon drums with hose to water them. I have a neighbor that keeps 60+ brood cows over winter with a couple frost-free nose pump hydrants. He does check them twice a day. He has high pressure water lines (household pressure) trenched in below the frost line and frost-proof hydrants through his farm. A system like this is not economic for a small operation and only works for him because he doesn't rotation graze. I chop up 8 acres into more and more paddocks. Right now, I have 5 and soon 8.
I kind of have the idea that if I wont drink out of it, then why would I want a cow that I drink milk from to drink out of it? My well is tested and better than most household water. Is this a sort of silly position to take?
My ideas:
Buy 300 feet of 3/4 "farm hose" and fill 50-100 gallon or so plastic tanks in the fields in the summer when needed (may be every day). Decent hose seems to be around 50-60 cents a foot. I like how a small tank can be upended or drained easily and cleaned. Stationary tanks always seem filthy to me no matter what contrivances are implemented.
Buy a thousand feet of PE farm pipe (about 25 cents a foot) and trench it in and put bibs where I think I may need them. This means the hose wont be laying on the surface. Since the water drains back into the well when the pump is turned off, no freezing problems. The water level in the well is always 5 or more feet below grade everywhere on my farm (it is very flat and the well is in perhaps the lowest spot). Use a short hose to fill tanks. I just hate stuff underground. Never know when it's going to break or whatnot. Our clay soils can heave. Also, bibs and stuff like that are just asking insert themselves into expensive tractor tires.
Make a water toter trailer that I hitch to the tractor that carries 500 gallons or so. Just leave this thing where the animals are and use gravity to let it fill shallow tanks with a hose. Hope it wont become an ice cube.
Make an insulated water trough in the barn with an electric water deicer in it on a thermostat. How many watts per gallon? How big should this be? Any ideas on how to make it.
Just get a plastic 100 gallon tank and bash it and pour boiling water into it when it freezes over or use a big deicer.
My goals:
1) have a portable system that can follow the cow around as it rotates through pastures. Also, we plan to keep sheep with cow.
2) Have a freeze proof water system in the barn for winter, though it would be nice to have a freeze proof water system that is out on pasture, too.
My situation:
My farm (11 acres) is like a right triangle where the barn, well, and house are all in the middle of the long side. I have a submersible well pump that can provide water to a hose in the barn. I turn the pump off when I don't want the water and it drains (siphons actually) back into the well and so the above ground piping/hose never freezes. It means that there is no constant water pressure so valves on the tank are no good. I have electricity in the barn so I could keep a 50-100 gallon tank always in a liquid state with a tank de-icer. I was wondering if anyone has built an insulated stock tank with wood or foam or something floating on top to help insulate it. Is this worth the trouble?
The longest distance from the well to a reasonable placement of a portable water tank is 300 feet or so, which is pretty long for a hose I think. Maybe I am wrong about this. I would think a half-way durable 3/4 hose would weight well over a hundred pounds to carry that distance. But I guess it could work. The pump is turned on a off so the tank needs to be minded while the pump is running.
The animal demands will be a Jersey cow and her calf and up to 30 Shetland sheep. We tote our chicken water from our kitchen everyday and have never had a problem.
I live in Southern Indiana and we get pretty hot humid summers where a lot of water is needed and last winter it went down to -5 and it was in the single digits for weeks.
We try to keep animals on pasture as much as possible, but plan on bringing them into the barn during storms (we get pretty vicious storms a few times a year) or in cold winter weather. We plan of feeding hay for 3 months or more and store up 6 months worth.
We do plan paddocks for winter grazing. We plant oats/turnips in August to be grazed in the nice weather of November and December. We then frost seed these paddocks into red clover and timothy for hayfields. We also plant rye following our half-acre vegetable garden to be grazed in nice weather spells in winter or and in early spring. So having water supplies for cold weather grazing is important, though I am not sure what the water needs really are. I know goats and beef cattle drink very little in these situations compared to summer time and we used half-55 gallon drums with hose to water them. I have a neighbor that keeps 60+ brood cows over winter with a couple frost-free nose pump hydrants. He does check them twice a day. He has high pressure water lines (household pressure) trenched in below the frost line and frost-proof hydrants through his farm. A system like this is not economic for a small operation and only works for him because he doesn't rotation graze. I chop up 8 acres into more and more paddocks. Right now, I have 5 and soon 8.
I kind of have the idea that if I wont drink out of it, then why would I want a cow that I drink milk from to drink out of it? My well is tested and better than most household water. Is this a sort of silly position to take?
My ideas:
Buy 300 feet of 3/4 "farm hose" and fill 50-100 gallon or so plastic tanks in the fields in the summer when needed (may be every day). Decent hose seems to be around 50-60 cents a foot. I like how a small tank can be upended or drained easily and cleaned. Stationary tanks always seem filthy to me no matter what contrivances are implemented.
Buy a thousand feet of PE farm pipe (about 25 cents a foot) and trench it in and put bibs where I think I may need them. This means the hose wont be laying on the surface. Since the water drains back into the well when the pump is turned off, no freezing problems. The water level in the well is always 5 or more feet below grade everywhere on my farm (it is very flat and the well is in perhaps the lowest spot). Use a short hose to fill tanks. I just hate stuff underground. Never know when it's going to break or whatnot. Our clay soils can heave. Also, bibs and stuff like that are just asking insert themselves into expensive tractor tires.
Make a water toter trailer that I hitch to the tractor that carries 500 gallons or so. Just leave this thing where the animals are and use gravity to let it fill shallow tanks with a hose. Hope it wont become an ice cube.
Make an insulated water trough in the barn with an electric water deicer in it on a thermostat. How many watts per gallon? How big should this be? Any ideas on how to make it.
Just get a plastic 100 gallon tank and bash it and pour boiling water into it when it freezes over or use a big deicer.