lithuanian farmer
Well-known member
Has anybody used frost- protected ball waterers ? What are pros and cons? Can cattle damage it?
http://terrui.en.alibaba.com/product/35 ... 00_BL.html
http://terrui.en.alibaba.com/product/35 ... 00_BL.html
HDRider":z8s81kew said:
Beef Man":1vdhhwg2 said:Not very successful here as the balls want to freeze up and they are'nt easy to thaw sometimes. What does work quite well here is a corbet ' made in Iowa' and another one that the hutterites make in Canada. Almost foolproof and no heet needed. Finally remembered the name "Therma--Sink". No cement just dig them in connect up to water and they'r done.
Well I'll be darned never thought of not being able to dig deep enough because of rock. How do you get your waterlines below frost? all of our lines have to be at least 6ft. deep or more to keep from freezing. Have had to blow some shelf rock once to lay a line in some of our rougher grazeing land and just above it 1/4 mile is a spring comeing out of coal that runs enough water to handle 100 cows everyday of the year. Ain't nature something tho?Fire Sweep Ranch":27hp20kn said:Beef Man":27hp20kn said:Not very successful here as the balls want to freeze up and they are'nt easy to thaw sometimes. What does work quite well here is a corbet ' made in Iowa' and another one that the hutterites make in Canada. Almost foolproof and no heet needed. Finally remembered the name "Therma--Sink". No cement just dig them in connect up to water and they'r done.
:lol2: Looked up the Thermasink, and they would never work out here. According to the diagram, you need to go 7 feet deep to set it. You would need dynamite to get that deep out here... all rock! EVERYWHERE! When we built our home several years ago, we chose not to put in a basement, it would have cost $20,000 just to blow it out!
Beef Man":36utb94f said:Not very successful here as the balls want to freeze up and they are'nt easy to thaw sometimes. What does work quite well here is a corbet ' made in Iowa' and another one that the hutterites make in Canada. Almost foolproof and no heet needed. Finally remembered the name "Therma--Sink". No cement just dig them in connect up to water and they'r done.
Have liked mine. Brother uses them as well. As long as they are drank from every day you will not need to worry about a heater.lifeofleisure"[b:b2j2129w said:]I have been using Mirafount for over 10 years.[/b] Very few problems. We do not have any horned cattle so can't tell anyone about that aspect. The only issue I have had is a 2 hole one that is an off brand (can't recall what it is - blue and red) that gets moved around on base more due to the way it was first installed at the holding pen. I just fixed it, and made it so that it can't move. I think it has smaller holes which causes cows to push it around .
The black Mirafount do not seem to freeze, and we typically have temps below 0 degrees f for several days. They are out in the open and can get some sun. They also seem to keep water cool in summer. I do take balls out for calves to learn from but I'm not sure it is necessary.