Ritchie waterers

[cfpinz]

Anyone here installed one theirselves? The energy free plastic models.

Opinions or advice?

Thanks

cfpinz

 

[dun]

Anyone here installed one theirselves? The energy free plastic models.

Opinions or advice?

Thanks

cfpinz

Piece of crap. I'll sell you one for a lot less then a new one. Ours doesn;t use the black balls to make it freezeproof, it has the float (which doesn;t work well) and the trickler to keep the water flowing.

 

[Crowderfarms]

Anyone here installed one theirselves? The energy free plastic models.

Opinions or advice?

Thanks

cfpinz

We installed our's about a year ago, and I'm well satisfied with them. They are CT2000 models.

 

[mitch2]

We used to have the mirafount like you are talking about, and took them all out and went to the Ritchie with the electric heater. I would never go back...

Michele

 

[randiliana]

We have the energy free Ritchie with the balls in it to keep it from freezing. Haven't had many problems with it. Does freeze up at times, but that is at -40 too. Haven't had it freeze to the point that we couldn't unthaw it fairly easily. We like it.

 

[cfpinz]

These are the ones I'm talking about:
http://www.ritchiefount.com/thriftyking.html

Anybody do the actual installation yourself? The only part that looks confusing to me is getting the riser tube set at the right height before pouring the concrete pad.

cfpinz

 

[Crowderfarms]

I did the installation myself. Riser was never an issue. I just poured my pad 6X6X 6" thick, and finished the installation with crusher run, over Geo-Textile material.

 

[ChrisB]

We used to have the mirafount like you are talking about, and took them all out and went to the Ritchie with the electric heater. I would never go back...

Michele,

Can I ask why you didn't like the mirafount? We have both Ritchie and Mirafount and if we put in another it would probably be another mirafount. Just curious.

 

[mitch2]

We used to have the mirafount like you are talking about, and took them all out and went to the Ritchie with the electric heater. I would never go back...

Michele,

Can I ask why you didn't like the mirafount? We have both Ritchie and Mirafount and if we put in another it would probably be another mirafount. Just curious.

Ours had the balls, with an in-line probe heater, and the pvc pipe for geo-thermal heat. I don't remember one winter when it didn't freeze at some point. Being outside with water hoses run from the house to get hot water, ext cords with hair dryers and anything else when it was minus whatever and by the time you got it unthawed you were covered in at least a 1/2inch of ice all over your body :shock: and took 2 days to warm yourself back-up.

I just don't miss that.

The electric heaters I like much much better.

I should say, that our farm is on top of the hills so the wind is always howling. And this could of contributed to my dissatisfaction.

Michele

 

[Outrigger2]

have mirafounts. the only problem i have seen, is that if the pressure is too high it will slowly leak and a rubber bushing will go bad on the float. never seen them freeze, even with the balls down. neighbor has ritchie, and loves them. don't know the price difference

 

[randiliana]

These are the ones I'm talking about:
http://www.ritchiefount.com/thriftyking.html

Anybody do the actual installation yourself? The only part that looks confusing to me is getting the riser tube set at the right height before pouring the concrete pad.

cfpinz

Yes, that is the one we have. We did the installation ourselves, and I don't think it was a big problem. Ours is sitting on railroad ties, however, not concrete.

 

[cfpinz]

We're looking at putting one in a pasture adjacent to the house, there's a creek that runs thru it but it dried up in March and shows no signs of coming back soon. We usually calve out all the heifers and around 30 older cows in this pasture. Calve in November/December so the balls would need to be in place. Think the young calves will have any issues with these type waterers?

Thanks for the responses

 

[somn]

have mirafounts. the only problem i have seen, is that if the pressure is too high it will slowly leak and a rubber bushing will go bad on the float. never seen them freeze, even with the balls down. neighbor has ritchie, and loves them. don't know the price difference

With an average low temp of 55 degress in savannah I can't really see any type of waterer freezing to often.

 

[Outrigger2]

i am 3.5 hours north of savannah. now it doesn't get quite as cold as someplaces, but freezing does happen

 

[pdfangus]

I work for a soil and water conservation district and have helped producers in putting in many.

I have both ritchie and mirafount in our own operation.

in Virginia if you have some cattle drinking from them and if they are installed properly they will not freeze. If you do not have stock using them and it is cold then they can freeze. Shut off water and drain when not in use.

Do need the ground heat tube in Virginia but we do not have any electric heat in ours

On the riser tube, just put it in and inch or two above the level of your concrete forms if you are nervous. If I recall correctly there is space in both of the above type to accomodate the tube.

Be sure to install somewhere a shutofff valve in the line that supplies the water trought that you can get to and the cows can't. Lots of ways to do this.

In the Ritchie you can put this valve in below the float valve.

In the mirafount I can not get my hand in down there to turn it off so should have put the valve somewhere else.

Calves will have no problem with the Ritchie and learning to use it. I have two week old calves drinking out of ours now.

the ritchie floats are smaller and easier for young animals to deal with. Disadvantage is that you have to go to a Ritchie to be sure it has water in it.

With the mirafount which has the larger balls you can see the balls from a great distance away and if you can see the balls there is water in the trough. If you can not see them then there is no water.

I like to put the water trough on a step 3 or 4 inches above the level the cattle stand on. It is a bit more trouble but keeps the crap and dirt from going under the water trough.

I would buy the one that has the best dealer support in your area. the float systems in both are similar and we have had little problem with either brand.

I have never had a producer in our area install one and regret it and have had many come back to the office to thank me. did not know how many folks hated chopping ice in the winter time til I came to work here. also keep cattle from going out onto frozen water and breaking through which is an all to frequent occurence if it is cold. Our ice does not get hard enough to support them.

One other thing and I will quit. Place it so that you can use it for managment.

that is put it in a fence line to manage grazing or centrally locate it and divide pastures around it, or put it near your working facility and put some fence around it. Particularly useful if you have a sick animal or a cow / calf that won't mother up or any of a hundred reasons why you would like to have an animal a little closer up. In short use the investment to make you a better cattle manager and not just a better water provider. We put all of ours in a fence line or in an alley and fence from the alley.

One little trick. in smaller areas cows will go to the water trough individually when they are thirsty. In they have to go a long way for water, then they tend to go as a herd and it gets a little rough around the water trough as the dominant cows like to hog and guard the water. where we have been able to put the trough near shade the cows go to it all during the day individually because during the heat they are forted up in the shade. If the water trough is more than 600 to 800 feet from where they hang out then when one goes they all go.

 

[rapeterson1]

Ok, here are a couple of tips to install the CT2-2000. There really isn't much room to allow the riser tube to extend over the top of the concrete pad with these units. There is only about 6 inches of clearence between the concrete pad and the bottom of the trough. You want the concrete pad to be around 6 inches thick so have the riser tube extend above the ground that much. Some tricks to make sure that it doesn't freeze in the winter. There are two areas you need to fill with water, under the red lid on the top and then under the red cover. This will freeze during the winter so that the cold wind doesn't freeze the water inside. The white floats, I have them sitting about 1/2" -3/4" below the rim so that the water drains off. Otherwise they will freeze closed.

I have never had any problems with the Ritchie going dry. I guess if you do, you most likely have a water pressure problem. Calves shouldn't have any problems drinking from the drinker. The floats just tip to the side so they wont have to push anything down.

I did have a couple of questions and just called up Ritchie. They were able to help. Go ahead and give them a call if you need to for help.

Hope that helps a little!

 

[pdfangus]

Ok, here are a couple of tips to install the CT2-2000. There really isn't much room to allow the riser tube to extend over the top of the concrete pad with these units. There is only about 6 inches of clearence between the concrete pad and the bottom of the trough. You want the concrete pad to be around 6 inches thick so have the riser tube extend above the ground that much. Some tricks to make sure that it doesn't freeze in the winter. There are two areas you need to fill with water, under the red lid on the top and then under the red cover. This will freeze during the winter so that the cold wind doesn't freeze the water inside. The white floats, I have them sitting about 1/2" -3/4" below the rim so that the water drains off. Otherwise they will freeze closed.


I have never had any problems with the Ritchie going dry. I guess if you do, you most likely have a water pressure problem. Calves shouldn't have any problems drinking from the drinker. The floats just tip to the side so they wont have to push anything down.

I did have a couple of questions and just called up Ritchie. They were able to help. Go ahead and give them a call if you need to for help.

Hope that helps a little!

Well a water supply problem is the thing I want to check for.

cows can drink a well dry. Power to the pump can go out . Pressure switch can stick. Any of a thousand things could contribute to not having water.

Nice thing about a mirafount is if you can see the fountain and you see the blue balls the trough has water in it. with the ritchie you have to go over there and look to make sure.

 

[cfpinz]

Thanks for all the replies. There's a Mirafount on a farm that I lease, it seems like a good system but the balls are hard to push down it seems. Water level might be too high, I've never futzed with it.

Pretty much decided on the Ritchie, have to do something in the next month, unless we get a hurricane or two. Too tight to pay someone to put it in, I'll just have to buy the wife a new shovel. Ground's kinda hard and I want the install to be as easy as possible for her.

cfpinz

 

[cfpinz]

Broke down and bought the Ritchie the other night. Been doing some reading and have a trencher lined up, seems simple enough. Seen some different concrete pads and have a few questions: How far do yall like the concrete to extend out from the waterer and is the step really worth it? Anyone else use a ring of geotextile cloth around the outside of the pad?

Thanks
cfpinz

 

[6M Ranch]

I pour an 8' x 8' pad around our waterers.