Water Question

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BrianL

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We have had plenty of rain this year. All of my my ponds are full. So why should I pay money each month to water out of commercial waterers? Not only is this affecting our bottom line but we could really use that money for spray to kill weeds with that would provide more grass. What do yall think?
 
How much will it cost to set up water to use that FREE water in the ponds?
 
redcowsrule33":35qxduz9 said:
And if you just let 'em wallow in, what will it cost you in disease transmission, mastitis, etc?
I guess I have been lucky and everyone around me has also because we water out of ponds yr round and have for yrs
to water all of my pastures with well water I would have to have at least 10 wells if not more and probably 20 - 30 miles of water lines then I would have to spends 100s of 1000s of dollars to get power to them
 
That is simple.


When my cows watered in ponds they all would cough every now and then and get sick. Since I have fenced them out of the ponds and installed ritchie waterers no more coughing and no more sickness.
 
never could figure why anyone would use rural water for cattle. we dug water lines through pond dikes & ran to freeze proof hydrants. cost is not much if you figure it over a few years & less if you can do it yourself.
 
BrianL":1hpfp4ok said:
We have had plenty of rain this year. All of my my ponds are full. So why should I pay money each month to water out of commercial waterers? Not only is this affecting our bottom line but we could really use that money for spray to kill weeds with that would provide more grass. What do yall think?

Our cattle drink from ponds year 'round. Cattle need a source of clean water. How do your neighbors water their cattle? If you've got a clean water supply, I'd say turn them in on it. If it's polluted or stagnant, keep using the waterer.
 
In most of cattle country it's nearly impossible to not have cattle drink out of ponds. People dam up coulees to hold water and dig stock ponds where ever possible. Nope, no problem with cattle drinking out of ponds.
 
Same thing in this country. Dugouts, creeks and dams are what most cattle are watered out of here. Heck, the provincial gov't just funded a BIG cost sharing water development program, covered any sort of water development, but most of what went in were dugouts. Except when our cattle are around the yard, they water out of ponds/dugouts. And, we don't have health issues because of it. Think I've treated 3 animals over the summer so far. One calf with pneumonia, a bull with an infected sheath and a calf with pinkeye that was here at home on the watering bowl. That is about as many as we ever treat over the summer.
 
We have waterers in every pasture. Dugouts don't provide good water consistently enough to be worth my trouble. I don't doubt that many of you don't have sickness issues but how much better would your calves grow when a better source of water is available? I have seen first-hand a huge difference in weaning weights from good quality water to dugout watered animals. I believe far too many people underestimate how important good quality water is to a livestock operation.
 
My cattle have a pond in every pasture but also have access to water troughs. I'd estimate that they drink 3 or 4 times more water from the ponds than from the water troughs. They will get in the water when it gets extremely hot but have never had any health problems.
 
The only time our catttle drink from a trough is when the creeks and ponds are frozen.
 
Only in recent times, since the government started paying all or a portion of the cost of auto waterers, have people in my area started using that method. Majority still use ponds and streams. If a person takes gov. funds to have this system, they should abide by the letter and spirit of the agreement. JMHO.
 
Cowdirt":3sfdzyo4 said:
If a person takes gov. funds to have this system, they should abide by the letter and spirit of the agreement. JMHO.

An emergency withstanding I agree
 
novaman":3ba23pjr said:
We have waterers in every pasture. Dugouts don't provide good water consistently enough to be worth my trouble. I don't doubt that many of you don't have sickness issues but how much better would your calves grow when a better source of water is available? I have seen first-hand a huge difference in weaning weights from good quality water to dugout watered animals. I believe far too many people underestimate how important good quality water is to a livestock operation.
MSU done a study on their farm about well water and pond water they determined there was no difference in gains or health on well water or pond water
 
The issue I have with pond drinking is the size of the pond. 50 head in a 2 acre pond is a whole lot different then 50 head in a 1/4 acre pond
 
I had a couple cattle water experiences lately - I rotated my cattle into fresh pasture which included the "upstream" side of a conservation runoff collection dam which has refused to hold water except for maybe a 20 ft diameter stagnant puddle at the low point. This water is really rank much of the time. I usually have an electric wire around it but didn't when I first turned the cattle into this field. Nearby, no more than 50 yards from this stagnant pool is a waterer with some of the best well water on the planet sitting there for them to drink.

So where does 2/3 of the herd especially calves go as soon as they enter this new pasture??? Of course, right to the stagnant 20 ft diameter puddle, mostly covered with scum, and start drinking and urinating and defecating all at the same time into the same puddle! The waterer nearby with great well water was unused....

This just showed me they aren't very smart and rely on us to provide them with clean drinking water and also rely on us to keep them out of the bad stuff. I quickly put the electric wire up and then they went over to the waterer for their next drink.

Won't bore everyone with the second example but I agree with opinions above that good drinking water is very important to the health and growth and milk and therefore profitability of cattle.

The fact that they haven't yet died from drinking dugout water that they are also dropping manure into does not mean that it is ok, long term. As Dun points out, the numbers and density and flow of a stream may move or mask the problem but it is still potentially there and will likely cause a problem at some point. jmho. Jim
 
SRBeef":269jmaz3 said:
I had a couple cattle water experiences lately - I rotated my cattle into fresh pasture which included the "upstream" side of a conservation runoff collection dam which has refused to hold water except for maybe a 20 ft diameter stagnant puddle at the low point. This water is really rank much of the time. I usually have an electric wire around it but didn't when I first turned the cattle into this field. Nearby, no more than 50 yards from this stagnant pool is a waterer with some of the best well water on the planet sitting there for them to drink.

So where does 2/3 of the herd especially calves go as soon as they enter this new pasture??? Of course, right to the stagnant 20 ft diameter puddle, mostly covered with scum, and start drinking and urinating and defecating all at the same time into the same puddle! The waterer nearby with great well water was unused....

This just showed me they aren't very smart and rely on us to provide them with clean drinking water and also rely on us to keep them out of the bad stuff. I quickly put the electric wire up and then they went over to the waterer for their next drink.

Won't bore everyone with the second example but I agree with opinions above that good drinking water is very important to the health and growth and milk and therefore profitability of cattle.

The fact that they haven't yet died from drinking dugout water that they are also dropping manure into does not mean that it is ok, long term. As Dun points out, the numbers and density and flow of a stream may move or mask the problem but it is still potentially there and will likely cause a problem at some point. jmho. Jim
Well Said !!! :tiphat:
 

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