Using ponds as a water source

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MtnCows93

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Ive got a pond next to a pasture i sowed back in march, im not gonna graze it until this coming spring but the pond is about 2 acres, it have it fenced with 1 strand of barbwire about 10 feet out in the pond where its about 3 feet deep, the old posts were already in the water so i used them. anyway should i be worried about anything in the pond making my cows sick like algae or if they poop and pee and drink in the same general spot? just trying to think as far ahead as possible so i dont screw up
 
When I was kid I spent my summers in a tank swimming with the cows never got sick or went to a doctor , figured I built up an immunity,got married and civilized now spent half my time in doctors office.
 
If it were a small pond of nasty stagnant water that rarely got recharged from fresh runoff, I probably wouldn't use it for my cattle, but a 2 acre pond should be fine. Mine will choose pond water over a water trough of well water every time.
 
how did we make it when they had to drink out of ponds and creeks, and no one had EPD on the bulls, and everyone had crossbred cows breeding them to cross bred bulls??? I'll tell you how we made it JUST FINE.
Yes your cows can drink out of a pond, yes they will pee in it and yes they will poop in it and yes your kids can go swimming in it, and no it will not hurt them or I would have died a long time ago.
KB
 
In some of our fields ponds are all the water they have, and it sure saves on the water bill. Can tell a big difference in the price when they have access to a pond vs drinking city water.
 
If you want to use the pond water its best to plumb a line out of it, gravity if you can, or pump it into a trough. Maintains the pond condition and cattle health.
 
Supa Dexta":2p61a9c8 said:
If you want to use the pond water its best to plumb a line out of it, gravity if you can, or pump it into a trough. Maintains the pond condition and cattle health.
Since we eat the fish from our ponds, we have plumbed a freeze-proof concrete waterer below the damn that is fed from a riser in the deepest part of the pond. Plan on doing the same at the new farm when we did the pond.
 
pond at my last place had huge snappers in it.. no swimming there!
 
Greybeard, it's strange that they will choose the pond over the well water.
Mine will spend time in the pond, but drink out of the waterer behind the dam.
If they have access to well water, they will always choose it over the pond waterer. gs
 
plumber_greg":bx5tmajk said:
Greybeard, it's strange that they will choose the pond over the well water.
Mine will spend time in the pond, but drink out of the waterer behind the dam.
If they have access to well water, they will always choose it over the pond waterer. gs
With mine it depends on the time of the year. In the summer they will always choose a pond, creek or the lake over the well (trough &/or fountain). Multitasking - cooling off while they drink and of course too lazy or hot to walk to the fresh source of water.
 
plumber_greg":3248o8an said:
Greybeard, it's strange that they will choose the pond over the well water.
Mine will spend time in the pond, but drink out of the waterer behind the dam.
If they have access to well water, they will always choose it over the pond waterer. gs
mine will also drink well water over pond water.
At my farm where they only have pond or a seasonal creek they will drink in the creek sometimes in holes that are not 15 foot across both ways and the water looks bad but I don't know what to do about it. I have even took a gallon of bleach and poured it in them holes, don't know if it helped but didn't think it would hurt either
 

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