Clean Water, Solar Vs Windmills and dams

[necattle]

Livestock health is of utmost importance to all of us. Adding vinegar to water supply is becoming increasing popular due to vinegar clears murky water in ponds and dam scenarios, is believed to help calves gain in summer months, and the vinegar smell definately decreases fly's desire to infest cowherds. I have found this to be absolutely right on. I started with vinegar to begin the all organic process.

Adding garlic to mineral has been a real success this year and a cheap additive. I borrowed Vita Ferm's concept aid formula but added or increased certain percentages of certain minerals to Concept Aid then had the local local co op mix it for me. Great for fertility/breed back.

The second is clean water. I have removed all windmills and installed solar wells with grundfos sqf 11 AC/DC pumps with the upgraded controller that utilizes a float so the pump turns off when the tank is full so there is no over flow. This sqf 11 produces 11 gallons per minute and even pumps a little in snow storms! They are cheaper than a new windmill and no more climbing and potentially falling for aging ranchers. "Too many of us."

This will water 250 head of cow calf pairs in the hottest two weeks of the year. No more moving cattle in the early morning because the wind has not been blowing for 2-3 days. I am in the Sandhills of Nebraska.

Lastly, by letting the cattle drink down in the wintertime to a half tank of water, we manually turn on the pump and when we go to feed in the morning we turn the well on first thing. By the time we are done the well has pumped 11 gallons per minute of 52 degree water on top of the ice. Due to melting existing ice and the fact that the cattle do not drink as much water in the winter time, we have not chopped ice since the solar wells have gone in.

One last tip, I do not know why but by bottoming out the pump in the well and raising it 4 ft means the chance of running a well dry when you first fire up the well works great due to recharge of the solar well with a faster pumping rate can shut the pump down until the water recharges. Grundfos has a sensor that turns the pump off if there is no water so the unit does not get burned out. This for us has happened two times but has also gone away after a few days when it does happen, never to happen again. With a higher pumping rate the recharge of the well water takes time to acclimate to the higher demand of the solar well versus a windmill. What we have found is that with two wells, one pumping at a shallower distance versus the deeper solar well is so popular with the cattle they all virtually go to the solar well. This must mean the water is sweeter tasting pumping from the deeper location of the water. Both wells originally the same depth.

I lied, there's more. Without the water overflow due to the float turning off the water when the tank is full means weight gain. When it gets hot our angus cattle would hole up in the ponding over flow basin which is dirty water. Calves can not suck cows during the day when the cows stand in the water for hours at a time. The cows are not grazing while in the water cooling down and they don't graze as far away as they could with limited grazing hours meaning the pasture gets potentially overgrazed the closer to the well you get.

Good water equals Great Herd Health!

First Solar Well. Solar Panels $250, Grundfos Pump n float $1900, Continuous panels and 8 inch corner posts $300, Misc suplies equals $3500 for solar well. New tank not included. Solar Well guys are very expensive and have a very large profit on solar right now, at least in Ne versus a windmill. By selling my old windmill and motor, I received $1500 for it and with depreciation on the new improvement the new well ran me under $1200. It actually was less than that for me because I had contacts and did the solar well for $2950. Once you swap out a windmill for solar you will see the well guys are not needed. Grundfos is by far and way the best with the best warranties and customer service but also the most expensive. The float/controller adds substantially to the life span of the pump and so much less water is pumped out of the ground. This saves valuable opperating lifespan for the pumps and decreases service issues. Labor $0.00. Mileage $0.00. And as always, I offer myself timely service with a true appreciation of my customer. Me!

For plains hunters, there is no sound to the system other than the sound of water splashing into water. Antelope and deer both like quiet water to come to every day.

Hope this helps on water and herd health.

My first post

Gary
Sioux Angus

 

[Brute 23]

Great info. Thanks for sharing.

Some thing to consider with the pump. When you are that close to the bottom you do take a chance of picking up sediment that comes from the well that settles in the bottom. You would definitely not want to get in to the perforations or below because then you take a chance of the pump sanding in and maybe not being able to retrieve it.

You can do a draw down test pretty easy where you basically see what you inflow is from the zone by flowing it at the surface to get a rate. Then you can size your pump accordingly.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

9 years, 1 post. How'd it feel?

Hope you have more to say in the future.

 

[Coos Rock]

Livestock health is of utmost importance to all of us. Adding vinegar to water supply is becoming increasing popular due to vinegar clears murky water in ponds and dam scenarios, is believed to help calves gain in summer months, and the vinegar smell definately decreases fly's desire to infest cowherds. I have found this to be absolutely right on. I started with vinegar to begin the all organic process.

Adding garlic to mineral has been a real success this year and a cheap additive. I borrowed Vita Ferm's concept aid formula but added or increased certain percentages of certain minerals to Concept Aid then had the local local co op mix it for me. Great for fertility/breed back.

The second is clean water. I have removed all windmills and installed solar wells with grundfos sqf 11 AC/DC pumps with the upgraded controller that utilizes a float so the pump turns off when the tank is full so there is no over flow. This sqf 11 produces 11 gallons per minute and even pumps a little in snow storms! They are cheaper than a new windmill and no more climbing and potentially falling for aging ranchers. "Too many of us."

This will water 250 head of cow calf pairs in the hottest two weeks of the year. No more moving cattle in the early morning because the wind has not been blowing for 2-3 days. I am in the Sandhills of Nebraska.

Lastly, by letting the cattle drink down in the wintertime to a half tank of water, we manually turn on the pump and when we go to feed in the morning we turn the well on first thing. By the time we are done the well has pumped 11 gallons per minute of 52 degree water on top of the ice. Due to melting existing ice and the fact that the cattle do not drink as much water in the winter time, we have not chopped ice since the solar wells have gone in.

One last tip, I do not know why but by bottoming out the pump in the well and raising it 4 ft means the chance of running a well dry when you first fire up the well works great due to recharge of the solar well with a faster pumping rate can shut the pump down until the water recharges. Grundfos has a sensor that turns the pump off if there is no water so the unit does not get burned out. This for us has happened two times but has also gone away after a few days when it does happen, never to happen again. With a higher pumping rate the recharge of the well water takes time to acclimate to the higher demand of the solar well versus a windmill. What we have found is that with two wells, one pumping at a shallower distance versus the deeper solar well is so popular with the cattle they all virtually go to the solar well. This must mean the water is sweeter tasting pumping from the deeper location of the water. Both wells originally the same depth.

I lied, there's more. Without the water overflow due to the float turning off the water when the tank is full means weight gain. When it gets hot our angus cattle would hole up in the ponding over flow basin which is dirty water. Calves can not suck cows during the day when the cows stand in the water for hours at a time. The cows are not grazing while in the water cooling down and they don't graze as far away as they could with limited grazing hours meaning the pasture gets potentially overgrazed the closer to the well you get.

Good water equals Great Herd Health!

First Solar Well. Solar Panels $250, Grundfos Pump n float $1900, Continuous panels and 8 inch corner posts $300, Misc suplies equals $3500 for solar well. New tank not included. Solar Well guys are very expensive and have a very large profit on solar right now, at least in Ne versus a windmill. By selling my old windmill and motor, I received $1500 for it and with depreciation on the new improvement the new well ran me under $1200. It actually was less than that for me because I had contacts and did the solar well for $2950. Once you swap out a windmill for solar you will see the well guys are not needed. Grundfos is by far and way the best with the best warranties and customer service but also the most expensive. The float/controller adds substantially to the life span of the pump and so much less water is pumped out of the ground. This saves valuable opperating lifespan for the pumps and decreases service issues. Labor $0.00. Mileage $0.00. And as always, I offer myself timely service with a true appreciation of my customer. Me!

For plains hunters, there is no sound to the system other than the sound of water splashing into water. Antelope and deer both like quiet water to come to every day.

Hope this helps on water and herd health.

My first post

Gary
Sioux Angus

How much and what type of vinegar are you using? Where did you get your solar panels?

 

[necattle]

How much and what type of vinegar are you using? Where did you get your solar panels?

Great info. Thanks for sharing.

Some thing to consider with the pump. When you are that close to the bottom you do take a chance of picking up sediment that comes from the well that settles in the bottom. You would definitely not want to get in to the perforations or below because then you take a chance of the pump sanding in and maybe not being able to retrieve it.

You can do a draw down test pretty easy where you basically see what you inflow is from the zone by flowing it at the surface to get a rate. Then you can size your pump accordingly.

No to the sediment question. Grundfos has screens in them and 4 ft off the bottom is Very important in that you won't have to have the pump stop working do to recharge rate of water pumped out. There is a safety to keep the pump from burning up the motor. Also, when going deeper I have experienced that if there are two wells in close proximity to each other and in the same pasture, that the cattle immediately and almost exclusively went to the new solar well. All I can think of is the water must be tasting better than the other windmill water source.
I size the pump based on the maximum number of cow calf pairs I would have in any one pasture. There are two water sources in each pasture.
I have chosen the 11 gallon a minute of water pump. It pumps enough water to take care of 200 head of cow calf pairs in the hottest months of the year. I also up graded to a float to turn the pump off when the tank is full. This higher than needed gpm pump means that it runs half as much as a 6 gallon per minute pump. Pumps should last longer and there is no water overflow. Cows can't have calves suck or be grazing if they are standing in the water hole to keep cool. Better weights, more even grazing patterns.........Gary
apple cider vinegar in the tubs or totes. Pain in the butt but worth the aggrivation and expense.

 

[Brute 23]

If you have to put your pump that low the pump is too big. It's extremely inefficient to operate like that because you have paid too much for a pump and are like hurting the pump and potentially the water zone. You will also have higher repair costs.

Screens are for large sediment. They are not for the sand you may pull in, especially with an oversized pump. Same on the low water or temp switch. That's a last ditch effort safety mechanism, not an on/off switch.

Size the pump based off the inflow test. Put above ground storage with cisterns and troughs to try to match your head count.

If you will jet those wells before you run the pumps there is a good chance you will not run in to the problems of not having the water after the switch. If your rate increased after the pumps it's because you opened up, or cleaned out the perfs or the well bore. Bade thing is, all that mess is now in the well bore or went through your high dollar pump.

 

[Brute 23]

Here are two I've done this year to convert to solar. They start off just barely rolling out that mercy, muddy water. You can see all the sand and chunks of sediment that it lifts out of the well bore. By the end they are throwing clear water 6-8' in the air.