Water trough design (PICS)

[cypressfarms]

Just completed three water troughs installed following NRCS guidelines. If anyone is interested, here are some pics:


NRCS requires 8" deep of (610 road base) limestone 8 feet around the entire water trough area. At the edges of the perimeter, the limestone should meet the sorrounding elevation of ground.

Here's a pic of the first area being prepared; all dirt work done by me and the old Ford tractor with a box blade.

Same area completed, side view:

Trough must have four schedule 40 2" galvanized pipes installed around the trough. All had to be 6' long, with three feet in the ground - in concrete.

The limestone base must be built with a crown and taper down roughly 1/2" per foot until the end of the concrete. All of the rules are done to prevent standing water and mud holes.

side elevation view

For those that are installing water troughs I can definitely say that the limestone does work well. Not sure if I would ever install 8" of it again, as it seems like overkill. Just thought I'd put some info out for anyone who's interested.

 

[Jogeephus]

Overkill or not, it looks good and I doubt ever have to do "repair work" to the base. I like the tank bisected by the fence. Looks like it is tight but don't see a post to the right of the tank at the cut out. How did you manage this? Or am I not seeing it clearly. Oops. Is that a hog panel - good thinking!

 

[bigbull338]

nice pad for your water trough.well thought out an setup.the cows will have plenty of standing room.i cant tell if you have your auto floated protected from the cows though.cows love to tear up the floats.so id put something it to keep the cows from getting to it.because they will tear it up sooner or later.1 more thing thing if they can get to the water valve they will turn it off with their tongues an mouths.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Perhaps I should be familiar with "610 Roadbase". Around here it is "#1" and "#2" roadbase. #1 meets the state spec for road construction. #2 is what you generally use for driveways and it has a little bigger aggregate. Other than that, I can't tell a difference. If I were putting in an 8" bed, #2 would hold up better. #1 is good if you only want to build up an existing drive by about an inch, since it has small aggregate.

#2 roadbase costs around $3 a ton locally. If you have it delivered it generally costs about $10 a ton. 10 tons on a truck is about 8 yards.

 

[WagaAgeyv]

I really like that. I may have to look at doing that I can see how to cut down on the mess. Thanks for the idea.

 

[ga. prime]

Cypress, is that a Ford 5000? I have one just like it if it is. Nice work on the tank.

 

[cypressfarms]

Overkill or not, it looks good and I doubt ever have to do "repair work" to the base. I like the tank bisected by the fence. Looks like it is tight but don't see a post to the right of the tank at the cut out. How did you manage this? Or am I not seeing it clearly. Oops. Is that a hog panel - good thinking!

JO,

It is a hog panel. I cut out the shape of the water trough with a grinder, and stapled it to the posts. I use the gate for mule access and to move the cows. That one trough worked so well, I'm thinking of splitting all of the paddocks in half again (to about 8 acres each) and using the same type setup to get the most bang for the water trough buck. I think I'm going to have to drive a metal post in near the water trough to provide more support, though. Not looking forward to driving that post in.

ga. prime, the tractor is an old Ford 4000, 1968 model. I actually traced the numbers back to it being a Canadian tractor. One tough tractor. It's just too small at 52 hp for all of the land that I will have come Jan 1st. I will more than double to 200 acres, and will need something to pull a bat wing clipper.

 

[Fred]

What kind of fill valve did you use on your tank?

 

[aplusmnt]

Cypress I still think you should hire out for this kind of work. Every project you post seems to be a quality job. You could include this type of projects in with your fencing business ;-)

 

[cypressfarms]

What kind of fill valve did you use on your tank?

I just use the $7 plastic ones from the feed mill. Never had a problem yet with them. I believe the brand name is Dare. I do come up from the ground with galvanized pipe, and use heavy duty 5/8" hose from the faucet to the fill valve. The cheap garden hose types just wont hold up to the constant pressure. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but where each pipe comes up, I drove a metal post down deep (to where only a few feet is still sticking up) and fastened the pipe to the post. Again, maybe overkill, but I don't want to have to do it again in the near future.

 

[Cabo]

Cypress, great job, you seem to get more done with a day job than I can get done full time. When cattle are involved, there is no such thing as overkill. jmo