Mobile Water System

[chaded]

From my experience moving water... $1700 is a smoking deal.

Good thing about buying some poly line and going thru the culvert is it will get you rolling now. Once you get a water tap then you could utilize it to cover all the pastures.

Yeah im not real excited about hauling water lol. After thinking about it, running it through the culvert will probably work best. I can bury line later if i want and even bore under road and no need for a new tap and monthly service fees. But like you said, this would get me rolling now.

 

[Brute 23]

Check on what all has to be done for a road bore in your state. I've done quite a few in Texas for all sorts of pipelines and its pricey. Between the permits and bore machine it's not cheap.

 

[Chevy]

I always use my phone timer! Pizz me off to leave it on.

Better to be pee off than pee on. pasture normally needs it. other things in life to be pee off about and leaving the water on isn't on outside isn't one. lighten up live on the edge a light. Bahahahhaha

 

[Katpau]

Before we finished putting in all of our underground pipes that fed the storage tanks from a well, we depended on springs that did not produce enough to keep ahead of the cattle in late summer. We have a 300 gallon tank that we carried in the back of our one ton truck. It was not very expensive at the time, but I imagine they cost more today. We would fill that tank at the well and then you could run the water from the tank into another tank for the cows. It might take a couple trips a day when it is hot.

 

[farmerjan]

The 1,000 gal tank we have is similar to the one @Katpau shows. It sits on a flat trailer that can handle the 8,000+ lbs... and we have the hose on an adapter to run off that valve to the float(s) on the poly tanks. That way they stay full. But when the cows decide to be jerks and mess with it, I will just go and open the valve with a hose attached and fill the 100 gal water troughs; usually 4 or 5. Once they get full, then I refill them and then it will last a day or 2 for the cows. Sometimes longer according to the temps etc......
A line under the road would be wonderful....you could run it out and then just fill the troughs from there...

 

[BFE]

Check on what all has to be done for a road bore in your state. I've done quite a few in Texas for all sorts of pipelines and its pricey. Between the permits and bore machine it's not cheap.

Only time we have to permit a bore here is when we go under a state highway. County and twp roads are free game, but we're pretty rural. Got to drive an hour to get to a town of more than 10,000.

 

[BFE]

$1700 will get you a tap,bore, and meter with our water district, same as yours. That's pretty much getting it done at cost. I would do it sooner rather than later if I were you, prices go up every day.

 

[Brute 23]

Only time we have to permit a bore here is when we go under a state highway. County and twp roads are free game, but we're pretty rural. Got to drive an hour to get to a town of more than 10,000.

That's amazing. I'm not sure if it's good or bad.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Been raining enough here, I havnt filled water in a week!

 

[Hereford2]

If you ran the black poly, why not put a float on the tank so you don't have to worry about leaving the water on and it making a mess, we use floats 8 months out of the year here. Keeps the cow's from running out of water! And a float only costs $8 bucks at our farm store. We've used the black poly line to water a garden from a pond, during the dry time's.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I had to graze hay fields last year across the road. I used a poly tank on a trailer. Parked it along side the road. Ran a line from it to a bottom float on the drinking tank. Kept the tank & trailer in one location for half the hay fields - gave cows small portion, then moved temp fence giving them a little more every 3-4 days to utilize the same water location. Then ran black poly up the side of the road to 2nd location and moved trailer and drinking tank. We filled the nurse tank every couple days. Ran a heavy duty garden hose across the road while we were filling - cars just drove over it. Yes - we set a timer also!! LOL Live where not much traffic. Was able to salvage 10 weeks of fall grazing from hay fields that didn't produce enough to mow and bale.
Calves were weaned, so cows were dry. That helped on the amount of water needed.

 

[Lucky_P]

Check out Owenlea Farms' 'Pasture Water Systems' page... written by FW Owen, a dairy grazier in Ohio... this stuff is from back in the 1990s, but some of it is still salient... we adopted some - but not all - of it when setting up the water system for our management-intensive grazing operation. There are a few gems in there, but I'll warn you off of the Hudson valves unless you're going with pressurized municipal water... with pond/creek water, the screens will get clogged and have to be cleaned multiple times a day. Probably some other stuff I'd also say to stay away from but that's the first one that comes to mind. (BTW, I have a bunch of Hudson valves if anyone wants 'em, cheap).

http://24.154.167.53:8888/owenlea/sub09.html

 

[D2Cat]

Check out Owenlea Farms' 'Pasture Water Systems' page... written by FW Owen, a dairy grazier in Ohio... this stuff is from back in the 1990s, but some of it is still salient... we adopted some - but not all - of it when setting up the water system for our management-intensive grazing operation. There are a few gems in there, but I'll warn you off of the Hudson valves unless you're going with pressurized municipal water... with pond/creek water, the screens will get clogged and have to be cleaned multiple times a day. Probably some other stuff I'd also say to stay away from but that's the first one that comes to mind. (BTW, I have a bunch of Hudson valves if anyone wants 'em, cheap).

http://24.154.167.53:8888/owenlea/sub09.html

Very interesting article. I liked where he describes himself: "I'm a miserly cheap, stingy, scrounger.

 

[kenny thomas]

Very interesting article. I liked where he describes himself: "I'm a miserly cheap, stingy, scrounger.

That describes me.

 

[D2Cat]

That describes me.

That's why I liked it, it describes me! Remembering the quote: "I have done so much with so little for so long, today I can do almost anything with absolutely nothing."

 

[Lucky_P]

"Find someone you don't like to help with this job."(unwinding 400ft rolls of black plastic pipe).
If you find yourself bored with nothing to do, read some more of FWO's stuff at the website, like 'The Blue Silo Salesman' and 'Low Level Flight'. Kinda amusing.

We ended up putting combine or earthmover tire water tanks in virtually every grazing paddock. A.Y. McDonald Float valve assemblies worked best for us, but we still had trouble on occasion with cows breaking the float handles or the entire riser assembly off. I've learned a thing or two since... and if I were putting them in again, there are a few things I'd do differently.

 

[BuffaloBillCody]

I am thinking about fencing my hayfields and grazing them and at least for a while i will need to use a mobile water system. I thought i would see what you guys use if you use one or what ideas you may have. I have easy access to water close by (on the other side of the road). I will be watering around 15 pairs. I live on my farm and will be moving the cattle frequently. I was thinking maybe IBC totes on a trailer? Any thoughts?

15 pair, let's say 15 gallons a day? That's 225 gallons a day. I'll note here that If you're going to rely on stored water gravity fed to a trough you should put a couple days worth in there.

I'm working on a mobile watering system for 500 head of bison that I move to new pasture every day. Same basic system could work for you, a few others have mentioned it. Just put a submersible pump in the water source and pump through 1" or 1 1/4" hose to a trough with a little shutoff system. I spoke extensively with some BLM wildland fire fighters about how they move water around the land. They said quite simply, if you're only needing to move 1-3 gallons a minute, then just get the smallest pump you can find and pump it through HDPE or something similar because that flow rate is extremely easy to get, even if there's hills or some minor elevation working against you. Poly black hosing, the blue stripe stuff, is cheap. Wildland fire hose isn't cheap but it's lightweight and lays flat. If there's a road just find a way under it.

I like that you're thinking of a tank on a truck, since I believe in moving cattle every day. People may complain about the work but I didn't get into the industry to stay home and watch tv while my livestock loafed around and grazed all the good forage out of the pasture. I just think that I'd rather move a trough and drag a hose to a new paddock then tow a tank back and forth.

 

[anewcomer]

Lucky P, can you share the differences?

 

[uplandnut]

I have used this at certain times. 525 gallon tank that has a float over the old tub. 15 pairs makes it 2-3 days on a full tank.

 

[ClinchValley86]

Ex

"Find someone you don't like to help with this job."(unwinding 400ft rolls of black plastic pipe).
If you find yourself bored with nothing to do, read some more of FWO's stuff at the website, like 'The Blue Silo Salesman' and 'Low Level Flight'. Kinda amusing.

We ended up putting combine or earthmover tire water tanks in virtually every grazing paddock. A.Y. McDonald Float valve assemblies worked best for us, but we still had trouble on occasion with cows breaking the float handles or the entire riser assembly off. I've learned a thing or two since... and if I were putting them in again, there are a few things I'd do differently.

What would ya do differently? I'm about to put 6 in here soon.