How far to water?

[tom4018]

How far is too far to water? Pasture is gone and moving cows to a back field with good grass, had them in it last year but the main pond was dry so i had to haul water. Pond still has water this year but it is a 1/3 of a mile back to water fo them. I thought I had seen something on here before about it but when I search with the word water you get a lot of unrelated results.

 

[dun]

They used to claim that 500 feet was the max. lately I've had ours going almost a quarter mile with no problems

 

[herefordlover]

i just read in a book on grazing 500 to 1000 feet but we also have some going almost 1/4 mile just seems the farther they are from water the less they graze the far ends of the lot

 

[randiliana]

We have pastures where they have to walk 1/2 to 1 mile for water.

 

[dun]

We have pastures where they have to walk 1/2 to 1 mile for water.

He was curiouos about optimum maximum, not possible maximum. In the Mojave the water spots were a couple of miles apart but that sure wasn;t the best solution, just the only one that was possible.

 

[hillsdown]

The further away the water the less they will consume of it a day ,as well as all of that feed they are consuming ,the energy will be spent on them walking for water and not producing milk if cows, or gaining weight if they are stockers or calves. I think you can push it a little if they are stockers if you have too, but if they are cow calf pairs remember that a cow needs alot of water to make milk . ;-)

It can be done where cattle will walk a mile to water, but at what cost .

 

[Black Coos]

Got a 300 gallon tank, hooked to 600 feet of water hose, my field is 2650 feet long, so they graze 2000 feet Long by 100 to 750 wide....They eat too the water, and then all the way back to the corner...Where they like to lay up in the shade....I think about 25 acs. total...They really like this big pasture, usually has lot of grass...

 

[Ouachita]

I have one pasture where they have to walk just over a quarter mile for water. This is because of the drought situation this year, or they wouldn't be where they are. But I've noticed they graze on the far side (away from the water) at night and early morning. There always on top the hill under the shade, just above the spring when I get home from work in the evening, chewing the cud. On weekends I watch'em graze from the far side, slowly toward the spring pond by mid morning. I think they learn were the water is, and how to conserve their energy as required for any given circumstance. They'll be in this pasture for another 3-4 weeks. By then, I'll have'em turned out on to a neighboring land owners grass, while my winter grasses come on.