Watering of Animals Advice Needed

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We will be moving to our new homestead and the barn, chicken coop and pig pen is a long way from the house (ok, so if you are 20 years old not so far..but at beyond middle age..it is a LONG way..LOL). Could we rig up some sort of watering system at each locatation using something like a 45 gallon drum with pc piping and then just use the garden hose every few days to fill the tanks at each location? And if so, does the water go bad sitting in the tanks, especially in the summer..such as algea, etc.?? Could I add a tad of bleach to the water to prevent this or would it harm the animals? I think I read somewhere about adding a couple of drops of bleach to chicken waters in the coop. Any ideas about how to keep water from freezing during the winter? We don't have electricity at any of the outbuildings and way to far to run lead cords from the house.

Also, there is a small steam (kind of a "trickling" stream)on the side of the pig pen. If I enlarged the pen so this ran just inside the pen, would this work for thier water rather than acually watering the pigs (only 2 pigs) or would this get too dirty running into the pen (wallowing, etc.). This will be my first "pig" experience. Keep thinking there must be some reason the previous owner didn't do this...but it had not been used in years and years.

Thanks for you help. At my last place we were blessed with electric and water at each outbuilding! We are so thrilled to get back to the country. Circumstances (family member's health problems, job, etc.) brought us back to the city for more years than we had hoped. The house is up for sale and we are moving to our new place on 6 acres in Virginia the instant this place sells. Of course we had hoped for more land, but let me tell you...after being back to the city...I would take an acre with a pup tent! Please pray for us that our house sells quickly and I find a good job near the next farm. Thanks all!

-- Dan (pascolawyer2@hotmail.com), May 17, 2001

Answers

Hi Dan, Congrats on your new home! Using 'bluestone' in your water will eliminate algae. If you have a local Ag rep (we do in Canada - don't know where you live, but check) they usually have that sort of info. You could also do a search on the net for bluestone.

Have fun!!

-- Deborah (djdangel@mb.sympatico.ca), May 17, 2001.


As I understand it, "bluestone" is the common name for copper sulphate, and some animals don't react well to excess copper. If you're thinking of ANY additive, check it out thoroughly first. Also, some lactating cows can (and need to) drink a LOT of water in a day. 45 gallons (or even 55 US gallons) might be marginal for two cows for a day, and I'd never feel easy setting things up so you had to do things daily. Food they can manage without, but water they need all the time - what happens if you have a sudden debilitating fever, or get hit by a truck, or have a heart attack, or whatever? My feel for a rule of thumb is that animals should always have AT LEAST two full days (beyond today) of drinking water available.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), May 17, 2001.

I should have mentioned that the pasture area has a pond so the animals will have all the water they want during day (the goats and the couple head of cattle). Was mostly wondering for the chickens, turkeys, etc. and inside barn watering for evening. We always check on our animals during morning, afternoon and night chores and have another family on the farm with us, so unless we all blow up together, at least "someone" will be left behind to turn on the hose..LOL. Thanks again for any responses. I sure do appreciate it!

-- Dan (pascolawyer2@hotmail.com), May 17, 2001.

I wouldn't do the bleach for a variety of reasons; healthwise not the least of them, but also some animals will refuse to drink chlorinated water and dehydrate.

Our back pastures are serviced with 125 gallon Rubbermaid water troughs. They are dumped out and scrubbed weekly, then refilled by dragging the hose out (closer ones) or with a 55 gallon plastic tank on the back of the truck. They are a little scuzzy at the end of the week, but not horrible, since most the animals don't 'drain' saliva back into it again. If you have ones that are slobbering types, you may have to do it more often, also if you're in a very warm climate. We have horses only.

I would think that if you piped the trickle into a plastic trough, and used a spill-over that you directed away from your pen to avoid a wallow and fly-breeding potential that you could keep it circulating and fairly clean.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), May 17, 2001.


We can get the big 55 gallon drums in plastic here at a large flea market. This is exactly how I watered years back! Now all these barrells are cut in half and are their waterers. I had a couple of them at each of the fenceline, chickens, goats, dogs, so I only had to drag the waterhose around about once a week. The biggest ways of conserving water is to not let the animals in with it. I don't think the pig idea will work, unless the pen is really large, afraid it will just become a wallow. The goats, hornless, can put their heads through the cattle panels to drink, even the chickens can put their heads through the fencing to drink (even now I have my chicken water on the outside of the pen). Once your place is further along you can let your hens out each day to forage for some of their food, and they can drink from water buckets closer to the house, I do have water out at the hen house, it gets filled when I collect eggs, but other than cleaning it, the hens really don't drink much water between evening and morning. They are roosting. I'll bet your pigs will be the biggest challenge for you! And algea isn't going to hurt anything! I am a fanatic about clean water barrels, but really, in the grand scope of things it isn't that important! And to keep mosquitos from laying eggs, just add a good glug of vinegar to the water. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), May 17, 2001.


Great idea about the vinegar and bugs. I will try it. We also use the 55 gallon drums cut in half. Works good. We are trying to find a windmill tower in good shape that we can bring home, buy a rebuilh head and use this to water. In time, we hope to pipe underground from the windmill to the pasures to make it easier. Our kids are teenagers so they carry water for now but I don't want to do it after they move out. Joanie

-- Joanie (ber-gust@prodigy.net), May 17, 2001.

We have about 8 big bathtubs we use for water tubs. You can punch out the drain and just use a tennis ball as a stopper. If I have very young baby goats in the field I only fill it a little, just in case they jump in. Our house sits in the middle with pastures all around like a horseshoe, so it's easy to drag the hose. I use vinegar also, but I have to clean them once a week or so. I try to keep them in the shade to keep cool. A gutter and downspout from a roof might help you keep them full if you plan it right. We've though of that here and are working on it.

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), May 18, 2001.

We water our goats with discarded 30 gal. bathtubs. To each tub, when I refill it, I pour in a whole gal. jug of cider vinegar. They seem to prefer the apple cider vinegar. My cats and dogs will also drink out of them. I also never have urinary problems in anyone! The vinegar will also keep the water somewhat cleaner.

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), May 18, 2001.

I have 55gal barrels under the downspouts of my animal sheds, and installed plastic spigots near the bottom. For watering pans, I have little float valve watering pans with hose attachments. They are easy to clean out, and refill automatically. You'll have to fasten them down to keep the critters from knocking them lopsided and draining your tank, I set the whole mess up on a skid, and bungee things into place. If you rig something to keep leaves from washing into the barrels, you shouldn't have any trouble with it staying fresh. Dark colored barrels limit the amount of light that gets through to the water. For mosquito control, throw a minnow or two in each barrel. They will also keep the algae from building up, and the animals seem to have no objection to fish flavored water. For the pigs, instead of the pans, I installed a watering nipple directly into the barrel. They will love the stream to cool off in, but will use the barrel for fresh drinking water. You will probably have to run a single line of electric fence wire on the inside of the pig pen if you enlarge to include the stream, otherwise I can picture them enlarging the runout spot and following the water downstream. Put it at nose height, and they will quickly learn to respect it. If you can't get an electric line that far out, solar fence chargers work just as well, and a lot more cheaply.

I hope you enjoy your new place!

-- Connie (Connie@lunehaven.com), May 19, 2001.


Dan,

We have a "wildlife guzzler" that sounds much like Connie's idea-in- the-making. We have placed "corrugated" metal roofing at slight angle (2 overlapping 4x12 sheets on each side, draining into bent flashing (covered with screen--placed in the middle), and that draining into PVC (once again, covered with screen). The very slight slope of the ground carries the water to a black plastic 550 gal. cistern (passing over a "clean out" tube just before reaching the top of the cistern). We have no well or water source or electricity on the acreage so our rainfall fills the cistern and trough--all with gravity. After the cistern, the water runs (again, by gravity) to the trough. You could run it anywhere, as long as it's a slight grade down--ending below the cistern outlet. The raincatcher is above the level of where the water enters the cistern. Using roof surface, spouting, and PVC to an even larger storage tank is the next step in volume. We are considering this as our own water source when we are able to build on our land and use a well, perhaps, as back- up. Many folks in our area have done this. It's nothing new--been around several generations. We've even seen this principle using only ground surface as the raincatcher. In this case, of course, the ground was pre-evaluated for possible run-off and the collection area is not disturbed during the addition of components. We would be glad to send pictures and information about this type of water harvesting if you would like. You could just as easily use a smaller collecting and storage device at each point of need.

You need to be concerned with the pigs in stream/spring/seep water. I'm not quite sure what is being considered here. This creates a serious polution problem and is punishable by law in most states.

Let us know if you try rainwater harvesting.

-- Survivor (Zumende@aol.com), May 20, 2001.



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