Silver
Well-known member
Just thought I'd post a pic of this water bowl, I've grown rather fond of it at least while the sun is shining.
Watering Cows
- Thread starter Silver
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Looks cold there Silver, almost a cold at Two Egg, Florida which I hear is brutal this week. There's a guy down there who could teach all you cold weather cattlemen how to handle chilly weather.
OP
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Silver
Well-known member
TennesseeTuxedo":1x9zgcgp said:
Not cold at all, about 2 degrees above freezing in this pic.
How brutal can it get in Florida?
frieghttrain
Well-known member
Cows look in good condition. Do you supplement them overwinter? It has been in the -'s here for a while anything above zero is warm now :lol:
True Grit Farms
Well-known member
He's just a wimp TT, or it might be the elevation of the mountains in Two Egg. I have a guy here hunting from the very NW corner of New Hampshire and he got cold this morning. His nephews and brother in law from Florida were fine...go figure.TennesseeTuxedo":s8gwbf1j said:
Workinonit Farm
Well-known member
I like the looks of that set-up, Silver.
at my place, knowing my cows, they would have stomped and pooped in that water bowl.
at my place, knowing my cows, they would have stomped and pooped in that water bowl.
Silver":3ku6f2v3 said:
According to the yahoos I know who live there they claim it gets mighty cold in the Sunshine State.
Go figure right?
wbvs58
Well-known member
What is the source of the water there Silver and how do you stop it from freezing?
Ken
Ken
ALACOWMAN
Well-known member
this time of year here,, it would work fine.. But when they all go to it at once,in the summer months, thats when I'd have trouble...Workinonit Farm":2n8ai12u said:
Aaron
Well-known member
I was looking for the motion eye and looked closer and seen the two wires on the right hand side of the picture.
Who makes that system? Sun Dog or Solar West? I know it's not a Kelln unit.
How many cows, how much wattage of panels and how many batteries?
Who makes that system? Sun Dog or Solar West? I know it's not a Kelln unit.
How many cows, how much wattage of panels and how many batteries?
OP
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Silver
Well-known member
Aaron":20rgazur said:
This is a Sundog Solar system, I have 8 100 ah batteries on it and about 1100 Watts of panel. I have it set up for 24 V, so should have about 400 amp hours of reserve if the batteries were top notch. I'm watering about 350 head on it right now but having some grief during extended sunless hours. Batteries are expensive, so I have accumulated them from oil patch decommissioning projects. I may have to bite the bullet and get fresh batteries. I can go for one sunless day plus a night then I if the following morning doesn't break sunny I better be thinking about taking the Honda Whisper 2000 down and plugging in the smart charger I have on it.
The motion sensor is actually in the picture, high up between the two panels on the left. The wires on the right are going to another bank of solar panels.
Aaron
Well-known member
How far away are you feeding the cows from the bowl?
OP
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Silver
Well-known member
ALACOWMAN":8qwhmpgy said:
This is what it looks like when they all come at once because it was down overnight.
In an hour or two they will all be content. I've spent a lot of time timing them at the trough, about every 12-15 seconds a happy customer walks away from the trough. Stomping doesn't hurt it (the diffuser in at the inlet has the corners rounded off) but I've never seen poop in it, just hay that falls out of their mouths.
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Silver
Well-known member
Aaron":36xlfk5y said:
Try to keep them at least 400 meters away or more. If fed too close they tend to stand by the trough and drain the batteries.
OP
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Silver
Well-known member
wbvs58":2lyuz45g said:
The water is in a dugout about 40 away from the trough. The water gets into the 36" pipe under the trough by a 2" poly line from the dugout to the pipe. Therefore the water level in the pipe is always the same as the dugout.
Water is pumped into the trough by a 3700 gph submersible bilge pump. When the cattle leave the trough and the pump kicks off the water in the bowl falls back down to where it came from. Because the water level is below the frost line it doesn't freeze.
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Silver
Well-known member
frieghttrain":1tdjoh99 said:
We don't supplement the with anything other than TM salt (Gasp!), and find they seem to do well enough on good quality alfalfa / grass hay.
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Silver
Well-known member
elkwc":m55lgwiw said:
I don't seem to, but this site may help.
https://www.sundogsolarwind.com/solar-winter-watering-
Aaron
Well-known member
Silver":15157jzq said:
OK. Just trying to find any problem in the system and it is more than likely your batteries. I would double your capacity on the batteries, especially if they are 2nd hand. I run three good (new or relatively new) 100 amp hour batteries on a 12 volt system with 200 watts on one bunch of 50 cows and have no issues as long as the panels are angled perfectly and don't have 7 days of cloud.
OP
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Silver
Well-known member
Aaron":1q7aixnm said:
Ya, last winter I didn't have any problems after I doubled the system. I have more batteries lined up, just need to make the trip to go get them and hopefully things will level out. My original 4 batteries I bought new, but they are flooded batteries and I have to admit I wasn't diligent checking the water levels. When I did check I needed to add nearly 1.5 liters of water total to the 4 so I may have damaged them. The other problem could be that the other battery string is is AGM batteries and the two strings may be fighting each other.
