8 replies to this topic

[vhaby]

What are the most durable and inexpensive cattle water troughs for use pastures? I'm searching for troughs with at least 1000 gallon capacity to place in a fence line to water cattle on two pastures.

Also, what are the most durable foundations and how are they designed for placement of one or two cattle water troughs? Any help is appreciated

[NDVA HAYMAN]

Vhaby, I used to use 8' galvanized water troughs that would be placed between 50 acre paddocks but they didn't work very well. I raised yearlings and they were pretty tough on them and they were crushed in quite often. Now I use old used earthmover tires that have a steel plate bolted to one side ( with silicone seal ) on the bottom. The hydrant comes up in the middle of the tire thru the plate. I put a post on each side with 3- 2x10 across the top to keep cattle in each pasture. Have had these installed 7 years ago and have not had any problem with them. They are set on gravel. I have had to put a little gravel around them on the outside from time to time.. They are in North Dakota and withstand extreme temps. Mike

[Farmall706]

I put in a Cobett waterer last fall, my cows love it. They can either be run off pressure or gravity. They look small, but will handle a very large herd. To fill you in on these, they have no heater system or spew valve. They are mainly jst a insulated tube that sits deep in the ground. They have differant sizes for differant regions. I think mine sits 5 and a half feet in the ground. We had a mild winter last year, but I looked at one close to town here, it had no trees or shelter around it, no animal had been using it, and there was no ice on it. But there was ice in other standing water. Might be worth looking into.

[swmnhay]

tire tanks are the most durable.Should last for ever and indestructible.

[NDVA HAYMAN]

X 2 Cy

[Mike120]

Always used the round concrete troughs. We've got some still in use that my father put in when I was a kid. They last for ever.

[vhaby]

 IMG_03761.JPG   132.34K   40 downloads

This is what we finally decided to put in for our livestock watering system. Cattle drink the two 580 gallon troughs down to about half by early morning. By noon, the troughs are full on sunny days. The solar pump is powered by six 190 Watt solar panels connected in series. About 1600 ft of 1.5 inch pipe connect the well to the troughs. Once the troughs are full, excess water drains into a 3-inch pipe that carries this overflow water to a small pond about 420 ft from the troughs.

So far, the drained water is only maintaining the water level in the small pond. The cement block is for the cow dogs to stand on and drink from the troughs.

Thanks for your input. We couldn't find a reasonable site from which to purchase rubber tire troughs, so as the small pond's water became worse and worse for cattle to drink, we opted to go with poly troughs found locally.

[Vol]

 IMG_03761.JPG   132.34K   40 downloads

This is what we finally decided to put in for our livestock watering system. Cattle drink the two 580 gallon troughs down to about half by early morning. By noon, the troughs are full on sunny days. The solar pump is powered by six 190 Watt solar panels connected in series. About 1600 ft of 1.5 inch pipe connect the well to the troughs. Once the troughs are full, excess water drains into a 3-inch pipe that carries this overflow water to a small pond about 420 ft from the troughs.

So far, the drained water is only maintaining the water level in the small pond. The cement block is for the cow dogs to stand on and drink from the troughs.

Thanks for your input. We couldn't find a reasonable site from which to purchase rubber tire troughs, so as the small pond's water became worse and worse for cattle to drink, we opted to go with poly troughs found locally.

This pic was on the Montana Stock Growers Association and was among a number of pics that showed the effects of the wildfires that those folks had to deal with this summer. Looks like all the lumber burned off these posts that I suppose were used to keep the stock out of this tank....it being a plastic or fiberglass tank I was surprised that there was no evident fire damage to the tank. Thought you might be interested in a look at this pic.

Regards, Mike

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[TheFastMan_2]

Interesting how that happens. I'll add another odd story, when I was in Boy Scouts and did my Order of the Arrow ordeal, they gave us "breakfast" one morning that consisted of an egg, a piece of bread and a cold sausage link. We got foam cups and a water cooler also. I don't know how, but some scouts were able to cook/warm their eggs by putting it in a foam cup of water and putting it in the hot coals of the fire. It would singe the top of the cup until the water line, but the cups were fine.