watering a herd during drought, making do

[milesvb]

Due to a low stocking rate I still have quite a bit of native forage to fill a cow's belly. Unfortunately the tanks (ponds) in those pastures have dried up. I bought another bulk storage container in addition to the two we had on hand and rigged them up to a float valve and 300 gal. plastic trough. We haul water from about 1.5 miles away through the pastures and have to refill from every other day to every third day depending on how hot it is. Storage capacity is about 850 gals. plus the trough. It presently serves a herd of about 35 head.

 

[Tod Dague]

One of our leases may be drying up soon. I don't have any bulk tanks as of yet but may have to buy some soon.

 

[msscamp]

Honest question here: Why not just rent a backhoe and lay a waterline for times of drought? Forgive me for my ignorance here (watering from ponds is usually the exception here), but it seems to me like it would pay for itself in time and trouble saved, and in circumventing compaction of the pasture. Does drought not hit your area often enough to make laying waterlines a viable option, or are your wells going dry too? What am I missing?

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

Cost me a small fortune to run a water line several thousand feet to the pasture. For a mere $1650 I could have a meter and line put in the pasture by the water co op here. :roll:

 

[dj]

Honest question here: Why not just rent a backhoe and lay a waterline for times of drought? Forgive me for my ignorance here (watering from ponds is usually the exception here), but it seems to me like it would pay for itself in time and trouble saved, and in circumventing compaction of the pasture. Does drought not hit your area often enough to make laying waterlines a viable option, or are your wells going dry too? What am I missing?

you maybe will have easement problems in the 1.5 miles he hauls it. and you would need a big pump or booster stations.

 

[dj]

r those paint buckets?

 

[msscamp]

Thanks for the answers, guys. I appreciate it.

 

[Ratfish]

I guess we're really lucky to be able to run a very, very long hose to our trough in the pasture.

 

[sidney411]

A neighbor of ours put a drip system on the same type containers and placed one at each sapling tree he planted in the pasture this year. Seems to be working well, he has a huge water tank he pulls behind the tractor to refill them.

 

[MillIronQH]

One of my neighbors has a couple oof these tanks for sale but he's not sure what was in them. I think he's asking $125 for them.Z

 

[milesvb]

One of our leases may be drying up soon. I don't have any bulk tanks as of yet but may have to buy some soon.

The tanks run $100 each plus $25 for the fittings so you can hook up the hose. They are steam cleaned prior to purchase but may have some residue of whatever was stored in them. We haven't had any problems and the cleaning process is "supposed" to make them potable. Personally, I ain't drinkin' from them but none of cows have keeled over and the bull hasn't grown a third head.

 

[milesvb]

Honest question here: Why not just rent a backhoe and lay a waterline for times of drought? Forgive me for my ignorance here (watering from ponds is usually the exception here), but it seems to me like it would pay for itself in time and trouble saved, and in circumventing compaction of the pasture. Does drought not hit your area often enough to make laying waterlines a viable option, or are your wells going dry too? What am I missing?

The logistics would be pretty tuff. Up to two miles of line plus two drainage crossings, one of which would require the line be cased to bridge the creek. We have not had drought like this in living memory. My father is 67 and our neighbor is 78 and neither has seen anything like what we are experiencing here. Out of eight ponds only two have any water and that will be gone if we don't get significant runoff in the next couple months. Some of the ponds were dug in the '50s and have never gone dry until this year.

 

[peg4x4]

I'm 63 and remember when I was 10-16 no rain grass was nonexistant thats when the carpetbaggers came thro buying"mineral rights" that led to the ALCOA stripmine..

 

[msscamp]

Thanks, Miles, I appreciate your response.

 

[gfd_703]

Most of those tanks are farm bulk chemical tanks. I would want to know what was in them before use. Check around your farm stores around here they will give the tanks to you for FREE.

 

[mdmdogs3]

also check factories - the little Debbie factory near here gets them with some liquid sugar stuff and some other things that we don't want to know about going into food

I bought one for $10. and use it as a dog house - waterproof and big enough for 3 labradors
all I had to do was rinse it out with a hose and cut the hole with a saw.

 

[milesvb]

If anyone in south central Texas knows of a source for these bulk containers at less than a $100 a piece please send me a pm.

 

[NorCalFarms]

Looks like a nicely done setup, but I have to wonder if they cows will break anything on it. Your cattle seem to have those nice shady things called trees to lie under so maybe they won't bug it to much, but mine would be chewing on the hoses, breaking the spigots by scratching themselves on them, and I'd probably find a calf or two standing on top of the whole setup.

 

[milesvb]

Looks like a nicely done setup, but I have to wonder if they cows will break anything on it. Your cattle seem to have those nice shady things called trees to lie under so maybe they won't bug it to much, but mine would be chewing on the hoses, breaking the spigots by scratching themselves on them, and I'd probably find a calf or two standing on top of the whole setup.

I hope you didn't just jinx me. :stop: :help:

 

[windwalker]

I hauled water for 300 hd of steers on summer you have to do what it takes to water them....I pumped water out of a a nice small creek I made it easy with my pumping system..