Need horse waterer advice.

[bobrammer]

I'd like to put an automatic waterer in the middle of my pasture. I don't have electricity. Does anyone offer one that won't freeze up? Maybe a solar panel or something? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! Bob

 

[Alan]

I'm sure you can rig up a solar panel to a deep cell 12 volt battery and a 12 volt converter to make one work. I don't know how much power a heater will draw in the winter.

Alan

 

[rross]

There are several propane models out there.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Guess it depends on how far the stock tank is from electricity! To operate an electric tank heater (submersible type) you're probably looking at between 2000 and 2500 Watts (20 Amp 110V service). Would take fairly expensive solar unit to provide this much current.

Another solution would be to have an 8 to 10' dia. steel tank. Paint outside black (to absorb winter sun); or use a large black poly stock tank. When top freezes over just punch a small hole in it (say 18-24" dia) and then daily clean out that hole. The rest of tank top will freeze and help insulate water from cold.

Or, bury tank about 2/3 to 3/4 in ground (probably a fiberglas one best for this to avoid rusting of metal). The earth would help insulate it. Could also construct a wood top to cover most of tank and help insulate from cold. Then as I said above, just keep a small opening in ice for cattle to drink out of.

 

[msscamp]

I'd like to put an automatic waterer in the middle of my pasture. I don't have electricity. Does anyone offer one that won't freeze up? Maybe a solar panel or something? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! Bob

Yes, they do - check out Politron (I'm fairly certain that is the name, but I'll double check). We run a horse boarding business and have automatic waterers - 1 waterer services 2 runs - throughout. We have 21 runs, and with the exception of one waterer (which freezes occasionally), we have not had any problems with them freezing up. The water lines run from the well, which is powered by a pressure pump at the well.

 

[Carlos D.]

I have used pumps ;that cattle pump themselves good for the summer --the cattle push this apparatus with their nose it pumps about a quart of water each time


carl

 

[Gale Seddon]

We visited a farm a few years ago that had Nelson auto waterers (as I recall?) with metal bowls...I think the metal part was a problem, heated up from the sun, out in the middle of the paddocks, no covering over them.

 

[MrGale]

ritchie waterers work real well, depending on where you are. they use a pit in the ground to get geo thermal heat and an insulated upper with a soccer ball that the critter pushes down to get to the water...ours have not frozen up except you do need to pop the balls loose sometimes as the dripping from the critters mouth can freeze on the ball to and make it real hard to drink. we are in virginia....do a search for ritchie waterers and you can get the story.

 

[Johnny]

What part of TX? I am in MS and use Ritchie waterers for my calf pens. They make them smaller for horses.

They are insulated poly construction and the water enters from underground and keep thing thawed except on our worst nites.

 

[hayray]

I'd like to put an automatic waterer in the middle of my pasture. I don't have electricity. Does anyone offer one that won't freeze up? Maybe a solar panel or something? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! Bob

Well up here we obviously have to use some heaters but I have cut down on only having to use water trough heaters at night when it is getting close to zero or minus by building a box out of plywood around the trough and insulating it with foam and that really helps a lot. Now if that works up here I can't believe you could not make something work in Texas with out electricity. How cold does it get down there anyway, and for how long? My training horses are in the barn and I have the old dairy barn watering bowls with a paddle valve, if I shut the barn up at night it stays warm enough not to freeze.

 

[lilmissfit]

I came across these while searching for automatic waterers. They are suppose to help eliminate having standing water where mosquito larvae lies. Does anyone have these. We will probably put in a couple this spring.

http://www.horsedrinker.com/index.html

 

[msscamp]

I'd like to put an automatic waterer in the middle of my pasture. I don't have electricity. Does anyone offer one that won't freeze up? Maybe a solar panel or something? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! Bob

Well up here we obviously have to use some heaters but I have cut down on only having to use water trough heaters at night when it is getting close to zero or minus by building a box out of plywood around the trough and insulating it with foam and that really helps a lot. Now if that works up here I can't believe you could not make something work in Texas with out electricity. How cold does it get down there anyway, and for how long? My training horses are in the barn and I have the old dairy barn watering bowls with a paddle valve, if I shut the barn up at night it stays warm enough not to freeze.

Hayray, I might be wrong on this, but I would think your winter temps would be comparable to ours, and we don't have heaters in our Politron waterers - never have - and we do not have a problem with them freezing up.

 

[maggiesue]

Hello if it helps I live in Iowa and use a Ritchie Thrifty King for my horses with no heat and haven't had any major problems. The first winter I had them installed I had the white coveres up to close to the rim and they froze. All I had to do was knock them loose. After I lowered the water level a little I haven't had a problem since. I have a picture but I haven't figured out how to attach them yet. I will post it as soon as I figure it out.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

We use above ground galvanized water tanks. For both cattle and horses. Range from around 100 gal to 400 gal. At our location would be very rare for temps to drop below 15 deg. F., then, only for a few days.

Otherwise, when we do get a freezing spell, ice can form 1-4" thick. We just use a sledge hammer and knock a hole about 24" dia so animals can drink. The rest of the ice in the tank serves as "insulation". The hole we knock in daily or 2X a day only has 1" or so of ice in it. We also run our faucet into the tank with the warmer well water being on top of the ice to help lower the temp.

 

[hayray]

I'd like to put an automatic waterer in the middle of my pasture. I don't have electricity. Does anyone offer one that won't freeze up? Maybe a solar panel or something? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! Bob

Well up here we obviously have to use some heaters but I have cut down on only having to use water trough heaters at night when it is getting close to zero or minus by building a box out of plywood around the trough and insulating it with foam and that really helps a lot. Now if that works up here I can't believe you could not make something work in Texas with out electricity. How cold does it get down there anyway, and for how long? My training horses are in the barn and I have the old dairy barn watering bowls with a paddle valve, if I shut the barn up at night it stays warm enough not to freeze.

Hayray, I might be wrong on this, but I would think your winter temps would be comparable to ours, and we don't have heaters in our Politron waterers - never have - and we do not have a problem with them freezing up.

So explain to me how these Politron waters work. I have some cattle on some pasture grazing this winter, wonder if those will work?