Water Tank

[HDRider]

I am converting to intensive grazing with rotational paddocks. Watering is an issue. What would you recommend for water tanks in each paddock? I want something that won't freeze or someway to keep water liquid. My temps dip to zero in the winter, but they come back up to 33 degrees or more pretty quick.

How do I solve this dilemma?

Thanks

 

[Farmerjon]

On one pasture I created a wagon wheel effect so the water stays in the same place and the torn up area is the same. On the other side of the farm behind the barn, I created corrals that are alley like and at the end of the alleys I can open four different gates allowing access so again the dirt/mud/high traffic is contained and my water troughs are still near the barn.

 

[dun]

The buried in the ground concrete waterers work well for us.
Frinstance: http://www.smithmidland.com/waterer.html

 

[HDRider]

On one pasture I created a wagon wheel effect so the water stays in the same place and the torn up area is the same. On the other side of the farm behind the barn, I created corrals that are alley like and at the end of the alleys I can open four different gates allowing access so again the dirt/mud/high traffic is contained and my water troughs are still near the barn.

I put in one that I split between two paddocks. http://www.ritchiefount.com/thriftyking.html

I put the CT4 in. Kinda expensive. Just the tank was almost $700.

 

[HDRider]

The buried in the ground concrete waterers work well for us.
Frinstance: http://www.smithmidland.com/waterer.html

Looking at that tank, is your tank buried in the ground or just the piping? Is it the fact it is concrete that keeps it from freezing or that the tank is buried in the ground that keeps it from freezing?

How much is one of those tanks?

I considered a concrete tank before I went the insulated Richie plastic tank route. Doing all the paddocks with the Richie's would cost a fortune.

 

[dun]

The buried in the ground concrete waterers work well for us.
Frinstance: http://www.smithmidland.com/waterer.html

Looking at that tank, is your tank buried in the ground or just the piping? Is it the fact it is concrete that keeps it from freezing or that the tank is buried in the ground that keeps it from freezing?

How much is one of those tanks?

I considered a concrete tank before I went the insulated Richie plastic tank route. Doing all the paddocks with the Richie's would cost a fortune.

I don;t recall the price. Ours are in the bround about 16 inches with a mound of dirt over the back portion. It's the ground heat and insulation covering the roughly 100 gallons of water in the back part that keeps it from freezing. We have on under the trees and facinf west. When we get a week of highs in the 20s it does get a layer of ice that needs to be broken. Most times the cows just break it with their chins. Some winters I'll have to break it half a dozen times, last year I didn;t have to break it at all.

 

[Lucky_P]

We've installed a dozen or more of the big combine/ag tire waterers in our paddocks over the past two summers - you need at least a 24.5" width to accomodate the length of travel of the A.Y. McDonald float arm that we use.
I can set and hook one up in less than 2 hrs.
http://extension.missouri.edu/adair/tiretanks.aspx

Only have the waterlines (gravity-flow from ponds) buried to the two paddocks where we winter feed. Summer paddocks are served by waterline laid on top of the ground - yeah, they freeze in the winter, and may pop apart here and there at joints, but if you get 160psi black plastic, it's 'burst-proof', and freezing will not damage it.
During winter grazing, there's generally enough standing or flowing water that I don't have to worry about whether the waterlines are frozen or not.

 

[jedstivers]

In NE Ar you should have plenty of the big combine tires and they can be had for free. We have 2 ready to be put in now.

 

[HDRider]

We've installed a dozen or more of the big combine/ag tire waterers in our paddocks over the past two summers - you need at least a 24.5" width to accomodate the length of travel of the A.Y. McDonald float arm that we use.
I can set and hook one up in less than 2 hrs.
http://extension.missouri.edu/adair/tiretanks.aspx

Only have the waterlines (gravity-flow from ponds) buried to the two paddocks where we winter feed. Summer paddocks are served by waterline laid on top of the ground - yeah, they freeze in the winter, and may pop apart here and there at joints, but if you get 160psi black plastic, it's 'burst-proof', and freezing will not damage it.
During winter grazing, there's generally enough standing or flowing water that I don't have to worry about whether the waterlines are frozen or not.

Thanks for the link. I like the tire idea....

 

[Ruark]

If you can get electricity out there, there are all kinds of tank heaters that will keep the water from freezing over. Otherwise, do like I did - go out there a couple of times a day and break it up with a digging bar.

 

[HDRider]

You guys started me looking at tire tanks. This is a good ref site...

http://www.giantrubberwatertanks.com/Se ... 20Tank.htm

Thanks

 

[user1]

The heat well is a key ingredient to any waterer.