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Waterers?

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SW those must not be the ones with the balls? 2 of the 3 dealers here reccomend the Ritchys that have the balls in them...but they are ALOT more money that the Behlens.
 
Mn.-We have several tire troughs in use including a smaller one (6ft.) that is used in the winter for over 300 cows. Lots of capacity, and eliminates a lot of the fighting for a drink.....cows seem to come in in bigger bunches for a drink it seems. They will take a lot of cold (-10 to -20) forming only a shallow layer of ice as long as the wind chill is not too extreme. We do use a floating stock tank heater and this keeps it clear. Our biggest problem is finding a dependable valve setup that will shut off when it's supposed to......they can flood a pen pretty bad if they flow all night!!! I would not willingly go back to waterbowls for the cowherd!
 
I have three Mortec tanks from wWlliston ND. 2 are 12 feet long and hold 700 gallons. All is buried buy a couple of feet at the front where the cows drink. With cows drinking the hardly freeze but they do need cows. There is nothing to keep them open except the change of water. Oh yea they are fiberglass and covered except the front.
 
cowsense- Cammack ranch supply union center sd has a lewis valve that works real good I guess.
 
mine are all homemade I measured up some Ritchies built them then bought all Ritchie parts and put them together.The new one's cost around$500 up towm I ended up with $185 in each plus my labor but when it's for me I work cheap.
 
So how long does it take the cows to get used to using the type of waterers with the balls in them? Our cows have always drank out of big troughs?
 
Nicky,


I leased a summer pasture with these waterers on it and it was the first mine had ever seen of those balls covering the holes. It was hot when I unloaded and I needed to get, so I couldn't stick around and see. Somehowm they figured it out on thier own. I wonder if natural curiousity ddin't play a hand in it.

One thing I always look at is if calves can drink. I like lower troughs. It would amaze you how much water baby calves drink.

I also talked to a guy from Colorado once. The set Propane battles out by the tanks and ran a hard line into the tank. They used the gas to percolate the water, sent bublles up into it. He swore by it, said this bubbling action would prevent freezing. I haven't heard of this since. Has anyone else???


PPRM
 
We were wondering about ways to keep the water moving, doesn't really take much to keep water open, if the lines don't freeze :?
 
Many marinas pump air around the boats that are over wintered in the water, and we have a neighbor who pumps air into his pond year round for the fish and where it comes up there is always a hole so I guess it would work if done properly
 
Nicky,
these are not the ones with the balls, I wont use those things anymore, I think these are called Cattlemasters, they are 7 feet long, we put valves in them that have two stages, one when a little water is gone, and two when all of the water is gone the valve is wide open and fills the tank as fast as the water pressure allows. They will get a buildup of ice on them when it is -20 but it comes off easy and you have had water moving in the lines all of the time so no lines freezing up. You can also set them up with a thermostat so the water only moves when it hits the temp you set it on. When we had Mirafounts we always had to drop the float level low enough that the balls did not fill the hole or tie the balls down to get cattle to figure out how to drink. Then at 20 below if you have the balls filling the hole, water dripping from the cows freezes the balls shutting the hole and then everything freezes up. I threw the tops away and put mineral in the Mirafounts.
 
PPRM said:
I also talked to a guy from Colorado once. The set Propane battles out by the tanks and ran a hard line into the tank. They used the gas to percolate the water, sent bublles up into it. He swore by it, said this bubbling action would prevent freezing. I haven't heard of this since. Has anyone else???


PPRM

This sounds interesting, if a fine enough line could give enough pressure to bubble without using tank after tank of propane. At - 47 C, though, propane gels too much. :shock: Some neighbours with propane need to have wood backup for the colder days, cause their propane won't work. We hope we won't have many days at that temp, though!
 
For an earth moving tire to work your well has to have enough flow to fill it fast enough-mine held maybe 250-300 gallons. The cows would drink it down a few times then the flow wouldn't come in fast enough-the valve would either freeze or else the cows would break it off and flood the yard eventually. Also it was just the right diameter that a calf could get shoved into it but couldn't get its feet to get out. The last straw was going out one morning( -45 ) to find a drowned calf-frozen solid on top of the valve-and water everywhere-cows couldn't get to it to drink because of ice. I saved about $5 on electricity-spent 500 on plumbers to unthaw the @@##$%^^ thing and lost three calves before winter was done. I gave it away and put another good reliable Ritchey #5 in.
 
Heifer said:
PPRM said:
I also talked to a guy from Colorado once. The set Propane battles out by the tanks and ran a hard line into the tank. They used the gas to percolate the water, sent bublles up into it. He swore by it, said this bubbling action would prevent freezing. I haven't heard of this since. Has anyone else???


PPRM

This sounds interesting, if a fine enough line could give enough pressure to bubble without using tank after tank of propane. At - 47 C, though, propane gels too much. :shock: Some neighbours with propane need to have wood backup for the colder days, cause their propane won't work. We hope we won't have many days at that temp, though!
Think about this: Propane gas merrily bubbling it's way up through the H20 - A cigarette spark or a hot chunk of carbon out of an exhaust pipe of a tractor or pickup tumbling it's way ACROSS the top of the water tank - and - - - P-H-F-L-U-U-U-M-M-B - - -The cow jumped Over the MOON!

DOC HARRIS
 
We have a Mirafount trough. The top and balls were disgarded years ago when we replaced the trough with an Edwards. The bottom of the Mirafount is now filled with the hose in the summer time for the horses. That's about all its good for.
 
I was going to try a MiraFount but after reading this I bought another Ritchie - - - But I modify mine. I bought a piece of 3" thick styrofoam insulation and lined the fountain with it. Yes I know it comes with 1" but I don't like high electricity bills.

Also when I put them in I get 3 five gallon buckets with the lids still on and drill a 1 & 1/2 inch hole in the middle of the top and bottom of each then drill three more holes around the edge of the ends as well ( total of 4 holes in each top and bottom) and run the pipe thru the middle up to the top of the concrete under the fountain. This allows ground heat to come up into the fountain and keeps the pipe from coming into contact with the cold ground. Also be liberal with the caulking to stop drafts under the fountain - - - unless you are much better than me the fountain will not have an air tight seal the the concrete.

I also use a theromator and adjust the thermastat to keep the water at 40 degrees. This normally takes me about three days to get right but never needs setting again after that. That is plenty warm enough and does not waste power.

If I close off one half I also float a piece of insulation on the side I'm not using befor I close the lid. With these easy and cheap modifications I have very good luck and so I don't think I will try the MiraFount.
 

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