A Question for Farmers in the US / Canada / Anywhere cold

[rookhawk]

@Wyatt Smith might have some guidance for you. He's a farming dude.

 

[ActionBob]

Mira-Fount waterers

Miraco Mira-Fount waterers promote healthy livestock. Miraco was the first to engineer both these Mira-fount energy-free & automatic livestock waterers.

miraco.com

 

[ActionBob]

We did similar installations in W CO. Plenty of freezing weather days but also decent daytime temps. Used the same method to take advantage of the ground temps, tanks are concrete and shaped like a big soup bowl. I don’t think they ever freeze more than a skiff. Pretty sharp old feedlot guy came up with it.

Yes I really think for the climate the OP describes he could trade labor for cost of buying a commercial waterer and build something like you suggest.

With dairy we are required to have non siphoning valves which means above the water level so adds challenges.

 

[Borderer]

Mira-Fount waterers

Miraco Mira-Fount waterers promote healthy livestock. Miraco was the first to engineer both these Mira-fount energy-free & automatic livestock waterers.

miraco.com

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Thanks. That is really helpful. JFC sell a very similar product here but without the ability to fit a heater

 

[Borderer]

Yes I really think for the climate the OP describes he could trade labor for cost of buying a commercial waterer and build something like you suggest.

With dairy we are required to have non siphoning valves which means above the water level so adds challenges.

Local building codes here mean we also have to have non syphoning valves. We are on a borehole supplying several houses on the farm

 

[ActionBob]

Thanks. That is really helpful. JFC sell a very similar product here but without the ability to fit a heater

I really think you will be ok without electric heat if the waterer is well insulated and you install it properly with even a 6" x 2' riser tube under the middle for the water line.

We plan to be in London early April and then travel to Ireland mid month before heading home

 

[Flbt]

I realise that this is an entirely inappropriate question for an African hunting forum, but as this is I my only contact with anyone in the US, I though someone might have a solution. Please feel free to PM me if it avoids clogging up the forum

I am in Florida so not really that cold
We has a 2 sided shed that they could get in but they preferred going into the hard wood timber.
As for water we buried our pipe 12 in down in the dirt.
Exposed pipe we covered in old clothes and duct tape it in place
We did and do get freezing temp
When I was little my first job on the farm before school was to take a hammer and bust Up any ice before I left

Now days you can buy heater for water tanks
And probably pipe heater to?

But if it’s normal above 26f I would just wrap them in something or use pressure water hose
That what I do for my auto watering tank
Or if it get really cold for here under 23f
We will let the water connection drip just a little
And I have never had the moving water freze
But I also think the coldest it’s been in my life was right around 12f

 

[ActionBob]

Thanks. That is really helpful. JFC sell a very similar product here but without the ability to fit a heater

I took a look. I don't think they are anywhere close to the same from what I can see on line. Looks like the water line comes up along the outside. And I may be mistaken but it looks like a simple single wall tank not a double wall with foam insulation in between. Might be just fine for your climate but wouldn't stand a chance in ours.

Now where I live in the Texas Hill country it would be ok of the pipe coming up the outside was insulated.

In fact I find it rather ironic... I spend way more time down here in the South of Texas winterizing and dealing with frozen water and even cold coming into the house than I ever worried about in Minnesota. In Minnesota things are built for -40... which by the way is the same on both the the Fahrenheit scale and Celsius. Here on Texas the builders are either clueless or just incompetent, or don't give a damn!

 

[channelkat]

That’s why I love this forum! I know we have a couple of a-hats, but the rest seem to be some generous, well rounded and good natured folks

 

[Woodcarver]

I took a look. I don't think they are anywhere close to the same from what I can see on line. Looks like the water line comes up along the outside. And I may be mistaken but it looks like a simple single wall tank not a double wall with foam insulation in between. Might be just fine for your climate but wouldn't stand a chance in ours.

Now where I live in the Texas Hill country it would be ok of the pipe coming up the outside was insulated.

In fact I find it rather ironic... I spend way more time down here in the South of Texas winterizing and dealing with frozen water and even cold coming into the house than I ever worried about in Minnesota. In Minnesota things are built for -40... which by the way is the same on both the the Fahrenheit scale and Celsius. Here on Texas the builders are either clueless or just incompetent, or don't give a damn!

Them Texicans think it's always warm, and build accordingly. When I lived in Longview, every time the word freezing was mentioned on the news everybody seemed to think the world was going to end. Actually, that seems to be the case throughout the SE. One farmhouse we looked at south of Tyler had the water line from the well laying on the ground; as it had been for 50+ years according to the guy who lived there. Oddly enough, it didn't look like 50 year old pipe....

 

[ActionBob]

You can rather easily rig up a "constant flow valve" to utilize when it gets below freezing. O personally don't like them because they waste a lot of water and on our Kansas operations water is highly regulated and the most precious of commodities. And with roughly 30,000 head just on our first feedlot and dairy operation. It adds up! We recently acquired another feedlot and another dairy also.

However they are an option to prevent freezing up water and perhaps a good one where you only deal with that occasionally and with small enough numbers of water troughs that you can turn them on and off.

Basically install a 1/8" valve or petcock that you can adjust to keep a small amount of water flowing. I would then set the main float valve to not fill as full as during warm weather.... that way there is some tank capacity to fill before it overflows. Then it is advisable to install a drain line, (usually 3 to 4 inch pipe) and a T overflow in the clean out so that when it overflows it catches that water and drains it out of the pen.

You can buy the valve or make your own with a peacock such as used to hook up the water to a refrigerator ice maker.

 

[akrifleman]

We are currently planning new cattle housing or more likely straw yards to replace 1950's buildings that have reached the end of their life.

Our winters aren't that bad, it is typically around 40 degrees fahrenheit, with around 3-4 weeks of 17-32 and every couple of years, it gets down to 5 degrees for a few days.

The water system invariably fails when it get below 28 degrees. The ballcocks freeze up and every exposed pipe freezes. We have a very badly designed system which is at least 50 years old.

What do you use to ensure a reliable supply in the winter?

I am thinking of using bottom filled troughs (very expensive though) and all pipes well below ground level.

Bottom fill have one bad problem in that if cattle get in the tank, they break the up pipe. We ended up surrounding the valve with large C channel bolted into the tank bottom to protect it. Heated it with a submersible propane heater.

I think you have to tell us if your pouring a tank, using a round galvanized, or a poly tank. They have very different problems with lidding, heating, etc...

 

[CBH Australia]

I realise that this is an entirely inappropriate question for an African hunting forum, but as this is my only contact with anyone in the US, I though someone might have a solution. Please feel free to PM me if it avoids clogging up the forum

It’s your post , your thread . Fire away. I’m sure you will get some help

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Lots of good suggestions here. Our cattle have creek to drink out of so we just need to chop a hole when it freezes over. I can’t be of any more help than the more experienced cattlemen here.