Interesting question...pond water

[dun]

Did you drill through it? I'm trying to find a way to get a pipe in an existing pond without digging down through the dam.

One pond we dug out the dam, another we layed the pipe as it was being built. There is a guy ar5ound here that claims he can push apipe through the dam. Without a seep collar I would be leery of pushing it through

You can also put the pipe over the top of the dam, just dig deep enough to keep it from freezing. Just have to displace the air with water and it will run.

NRCS has plans for a over the dam syphon system for watering livestock

 

[BRYANT]

Cows have watered from ponds since God made cows and it will not hurt them

 

[Chris H]

Thanks all...I pretty much knew the answer. Everybody around me uses ponds to water their animals. The only wells that have been drilled are about 20 miles south of me..and the reason is a new ordinance requiring cattle owners to keep animal excrement out of the natural waterways. But up my way everybody uses ponds. Seems like a pretty big expense to drill a well for my small outfit...but I definitely see the benefits. Maybe something to consider as I improve my operation throughout the years. Thanks for all the info!!

Tim

We put a pipe through the dam of our back pond and hooked a valve to it for the water tank

Did you drill through it? I'm trying to find a way to get a pipe in an existing pond without digging down through the dam.

A "dry hydrant" will do that. NCRS has plans for it, internet searches will turn them up, my previous link will show one. The disadvantage is you have to pump the water up out of the pipe, the advantage is you can access the water year 'round because the water level is below the freezing point. If you're not close to city water then the fire department might be grateful to have access to fill tankers in emergencies.

 

[tnwalkingred]

Thanks for all the good comments guys. I'm going to put some "Aqua-Blue" into the pond to keep it from growing as much algae. I'm also considering putting a hot wire around the pond and limiting where they can get into the pond from. If I leave only a small opening and put gravel down I hope to cut down on how much manure get's into the water and also keep any cows from getting stuck in the mud. I think I'll call the NRCS office and see if I can get into a program that will help pay for the auto-matic watering systems.

 

[3MR]

Just one question. If I fill in all my ponds were am I going to fish and swim? ;-)

Seriously though. I use ponds to water my cattle. I dont know if Oklahoma cows are smarter than those in other parts but this last summer when it was dry I did see them walk past a mud pit with a little water in it going to a tank filled with fresh water with a float valve close to a tenth of a mile further away. Otherwise though, just like everybody else. They will drink from one end while they are shooting it out from the other.

If I can ever get around to it I am going to fence the ponds off so the cows cant get to them at all. I enjoy them to much to fill them in though.

My wife won;t swim on our ponds, something about the muddy looking water that she doesn;t care for, or maybe it's the squishy mud between her toes. But we do fish them a lot, not sure how good those cats would taste caught out of a septic tank.

My wife wont swim in our ponds normally either. Thinks she needs a swimming pool. The cats tasted just fine, so do the bass and the crappy. ;-)

 

[lynnmcmahan]

NRCS has plans for a over the dam syphon system for watering livestock[/quote]

Syphon is cheap and works well. No digging. Put a hardware cloth strainer on the intake to keep the turtles and trash out and a float cutoff valve in the tank and you are good to go.

 

[greybeard]

Most of my cows are on ponds ONLY this year as we're dry this year and the springs have dried up. They do just fine on it. You do want to vaccinate for anything(lepto here) that local wildlife is carrying and use good injectable wormer but other than that they do fine. Even in years where the springs ran year round my cows have used the ponds heavily...
On the dairy side of things, I've watched tons of cows drink the flush water over the years when clean water is within a few steps and I really can't see that it has harmed any of them.

CP, I see my cows drink from contaminated sources even when they have clean public water. There is also a creek on the back 40 that my cows use. In ponds that have certain types of algae that release toxins, the water can kill a cow. It happens here in KY, maybe not a problem in CA. In regard to parasites, the life cycles of many parasites are connected to intermediate hosts organisms which live in water and of course the cows have direct contact when they drink their feces in water. Thus, it is even more important to use a good injectable parasiticide as you said. The prior owner of my farm lost several cows due to an algal bloom during a drought year. He had to fence the pond and put out watering troughs. That is why I got rid of it but also because it was a nasty eye sore and took about 4 acres of land out of use. I cut hay on that old pond site this week and it was excellent orchard grass.

I have seen a few ponds I would neither swim or drink from, but a pond is like any other integral part of a farm or ranch, just like a pasture, livestock, fences and structures--you have to keep them up and in the case of ponds--healthy--and ya have to do your part to keep 'em that way. Unless there is some kind of mineral that dissolves in rainfall runoff that causes problems, or it was built in such a way that it rarely if ever gets any fresh influx of water, almost any pond can be made safe for cattle.

The dry hydrant is interesting for another reason. My homeowner's insurance is high because (among other things) I am several miles from the nearest fire hydrant. I could install a dry hydrant, and be 600' from one. I wonder if my ins co will accept that?
:tiphat:

 

[Chris H]

I have seen a few ponds I would neither swim or drink from, but a pond is like any other integral part of a farm or ranch, just like a pasture, livestock, fences and structures--you have to keep them up and in the case of ponds--healthy--and ya have to do your part to keep 'em that way. Unless there is some kind of mineral that dissolves in rainfall runoff that causes problems, or it was built in such a way that it rarely if ever gets any fresh influx of water, almost any pond can be made safe for cattle.

The dry hydrant is interesting for another reason. My homeowner's insurance is high because (among other things) I am several miles from the nearest fire hydrant. I could install a dry hydrant, and be 600' from one. I wonder if my ins co will accept that?
:tiphat:

It might help your insurance. You'll want to contact your fire dept about the type of pipe you put in. Some have a special coupler that the fire dep't connects their hose and sucks the water out. NRCS was out of that type so we used regular PVC pipe with a cap on it. They need a rigid hose to pump water out of ours.

 

[Chris H]

One other thing we put in with our dry hydrant. Our pond is at the high end of a large waterway that cuts through our farm. At the bottom of the dry hydrant pipe, just before the bend to bring it to the surface, we put in a stub with a shut off valve that can be accessed with a pipe through a drain tile. The idea is at some time we'll run a water line from that stub all the way down the waterway. We'll put risers up to water tanks and use gravity flow to fill those tanks. Float valves will shut off the flow. That part of the project has been put on hold for a while.

 

[brihop]

like greybeard said, clearing surrounding trees did you no good, sunlight only going to make water quality worse. My 2 cents, plant some desirable aquatic vegetation, which will compete with the algae for nutrients. plant around the edges and also get some lilies if you can, which will also shade the water. make sure you have minnows and small fish to eat the m.larvae, if not stock it up (after you put plants, they need a place to hide from bigger fish). then enjoy the fishin hole!

*edit: for clarification, sunlight does not only mean more energy for algae, but also higher water temps means lower oxygen levels in the water (unhappy or dead fish).