Hauling Winter Water ?

[Stocker Steve]

Can you describe a successful system for hauling water to cattle eating crop residue in late fall?

 

[skyhightree1]

Can you describe a successful system for hauling water to cattle eating crop residue in late fall?

What do you consider a successful system? I haul water in those water tanks with the wire cage around them and have hauled water in our sprayer tanks.. It was to pastures with no water available.

 

[M.Magis]

How much water?

 

[Gunner]

I have a 330 gallon tote (like Sky) on a trailer. My buddy has a 1000 gallon tank on a 2 axle trailer. I have another friend that has a 2000 gallon tank on a trailer and he hauls all his water for the house and livestock but he has a truck to handle it. A successful water hauling system to me would be to not have to go pick up the trailer, bring it back to the house and fill it and take it back. This could mean 2 trailers so one is at the house being filled when time permitted, or enough water trough storage at the field to allow you to bring the trailer in and fill it and return it the next time you would go check the cattle. There is nothing more boring than standing around waiting for a water tank to fill if it is a very big tank especially if you have to take it back that night. Keep in mind that I work a full time job, so everything I do is evenings or weekends.

 

[Aaron]

Large fuel tanks on a hay wagon - plumbed together and emptying into a tub with a float system.

 

[littletom]

I don't haul water for cattle. But do haul a lot in the summer for spraying. The best thing we did to speed up fill up was plumb a two inch pipe out of ground and use a two inch hose. We built a box around it and have another valve below ground to prevent freezing. When running a lot of water a garden hose don't cut it. I would try and find a 2 axle nurse trailer 1000 gallons with brakes and use a 2 inch transfer pump for unloading for cows.

 

[AllForage]

I'm guessing when Steve says late fall, up here that means possibly below 32 degrees. With nights getting into 20's. The challenge is keeping water open.

 

[skyhightree1]

I have a 330 gallon tote (like Sky) on a trailer. .

Thanks I couldn't for the life of me remember " tote "

 

[fenceman]

Few years ago when it got really dry i lost water on a leased pasture. I put 3 330 gallon totes on a 25 foot gooseneck plumbed them together. Used a piece of garden hose to hook it up to 300 gallon trough with float. Id haul it home fill up totes haul it back and hook it up, leave trailer there. A real pain and a nightmare to pull that much wieght sloshing back and forth. But it did work. I understand it won't work in freezing weather.and to be honest i could have hauled the water in smaller quanties. I worried so much about something going wrong(leak or something) i drove the 60 mile round trip every few days anyway

 

[jedstivers]

We have finally gotten ours in the winte done with underground and wells, only fave two more to change to tire tanks so freezing isn't a problem but have another six or so new tanks to put in.
We weed 2-1,000 gal twnks and 1- 1,600 gal tank to haul in the past. They would go through about 3,000 gal a day.

 

[ddd75]

just run a water line on top of the ground.. fill up tanks.. tire tanks would hold heat better. you can fill up everything at night and unhook the hose w/ quick connects. the water should release enough so even if it does freeze in the line it won't crack it. I have black water lines running all over the farm i've left out over 2 winters and i just hooked some up and they are still fine.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I have a big trash pump and a dug well. I found a water trailer on a sale bill for next week.

i would like to try bale grazing some lower fertility one cut meadows in the fall, rather than hauling hay home. This would be a September/October operation in the north. November would be harder. Portable windbreaks and heated water may be required. Any thoughts on heating water through a short cold snap?

 

[Jogeephus]

I had a well get struck by lightening once and hauled water using a 1000 gal nurse tank. No freezing issues here but I think the nurse tank is about as efficient as you can get. Royal pain to have to do it though. Its amazing how much water cattle consume. I was hauling 1000 gallons per day.

On the freezing part, I imagine if you filled the nurse tank then the temp of the water would be in the sixties so it would take a while to freeze so this possibly could work well for you.

 

[Gunner]

I have a big trash pump and a dug well. I found a water trailer on a sale bill for next week.

i would like to try bale grazing some lower fertility one cut meadows in the fall, rather than hauling hay home. This would be a September/October operation in the north. November would be harder. Portable windbreaks and heated water may be required. Any thoughts on heating water through a short cold snap?

Heat tape and a small generator maybe? I don't think the water in the tank will freeze very fast but the valve and hose might. If you are worried about the water in the water trough freezing a generator would probably run a tank heater. Or you might be able to rig a small pump of some kind and circulate water from the water trough back to the tank and gravity back to the trough where it would stay moving and keep it from freezing. I don't know how much juice it takes to run those 12 volt pumps like the sprayer pumps or if a pump like that would move enough water to keep it from freezing. 12 volt deep cycle batteries and solar panels to recharge them during the day might work and eliminate the generator.

 

[John SD]

Can you describe a successful system for hauling water to cattle eating crop residue in late fall?

This is a difficult question to answer intelligently without knowing the number of cattle to be watered, what the prevailing temperature is, and how far the water is to be hauled. My first impulse answer would be just don't do it, period. In the past I have hauled my share of water in summer but have avoided hauling water in winter. At the same time, I realize you do what you have to do sometimes to keep things together. So here are some thoughts based on my own experience.

At bare minimum you need hoses on your hauling rig that are easy to disconnect and drain at the end of every trip so they dont' freeze solid during transport. Always carry a thermos of boiling hot water to thaw the valve when you get to your destination. You might not need it at all, or you might need the whole thermos depending on the outdoor temperature. Plastic valves don't take kindly to sheer force.

My winter water hauling rig was a 400 gallon poly tank in the back of a 3/4 ton pickup. Basically a smaller version of my summer hauling rig which was a 1500 gal tank in a 2 ton truck. I filled both at the same potable water tap 17 miles from home with a 2" hose through my tank drain valve.

Good flow and pressure at that tap at that time. Water system has turned it down since to discourage additional users. At that time, the pickup tank filled in 5 minutes, truck tank in about 15 minutes. Nowdays it takes 20 minutes to fill the pickup tank :roll:

The trip home took about 45 minutes with 14 miles of pavement and 3 miles of my own rough road on this end. On a sunny 20 degree day it really was not a bad job at all. On a -20 day with -40 wind chills, I managed to get the job done, but it's not something I would wish on anybody.

 

[John SD]

I'm guessing when Steve says late fall, up here that means possibly below 32 degrees. With nights getting into 20's. The challenge is keeping water open.

I sort of assumed "late fall" as November and later. But then I've seen -15 on Halloween too :mrgreen: If a guy could count on temps to stay above 0, water hauling wouldn't be much of an issue. Unfortunately, -20 is a just about as likely as +20.

The guy who rents my pasture takes calves off and sells or weans them soon after Nov 1. He leaves the cows as long as the pasture lasts, sometimes as late as Christmas. Sometimes he takes them home sooner if the snow gets too deep to graze.

Cows drink from a tire tank so 20 degrees won't freeze it more than the cows can break. When we do get the first real cold snap, neighbor starts caking cows and chops ice. i also have a couple tanks that can be rigged to run over a small amount of water to keep the tank open down to about 0. Wish I had made all of them that way.