livestock self-waterers

[cowboydoc]

Just an fyi as I know alot of you have horses and cattle. I purchased one of the drinking post waterers. You can see them at www.drinkingpost.com. DON'T buy them. They are very cheaply built and I seriously wonder about their design. They are made so that they don't freeze in the winter by self draining back down. Well they constantly clog up. If the animal goes over there with grain in their mouth and slobber it into the bowl your drains get blocked. Pull it out spend two hours cleaning it. Next it is very cheaply made and very expensive. There probably isn't $30 in the parts and they charge $325 for them. The post is too small for my bulls to drink out of and I don't even know still if some of my horses are using it. It is extremely hard for them push to get water. There are much better designs out there and better made as well.

 

[MikePA]

Thanks for the warning, doc. We've thought about getting a waterer that wouldn't freeze to replace our current system of rotating 5 gallon buckets between the barn aisle and the tack room. It's nice to know which products to avoid.

 

[toddwulf]

Thanks Doc. I've got two horses I have to set this up for and I've been thinking maybe just a big galvanized tub with a toilet bowl float somehow shielded from the animals would probably be the best, least expensive and perhaps have the longest life of what I've seen out there.

Course, the other option is to use the tractor to dig a pond and keep that filled up. Hmmmm....

Todd in Placerville, CA.

'98 NH 1920 4x4

 

[cowboydoc]

Problem out here is that you have to worry about freezing. If you don't have to worry about freezing they have a deal like that Todd that you just hook up to a water supply and when the water gets down it automatically fills the trough. I think they are about $20.

 

[MikePA]

Doc, have you ever used either bucket heaters or heated buckets?

 

[cowboydoc]

Yep I use those in my stalls Mike. They work really good. I don't have the horses in the stalls much so it works good for me as I just plug them in when they are in there. Most of my horses are out on pasture and it costs about $25 a month to run the tank heaters, not to mention always having to fill them and mess with hoses when it's 10 below zero. I've got 10--15 horses per pasture so they go through about a 100 gallons of water per pasture per day. I have the heated self-waterer over where the cattle are but wanted one without electricity. I tryed one of these drinking posts to see how it would be and I'm really disappointed. I'd like to try some of the others but am really gunshy now at other brands at $325 and up now. Anyone used a good one that doesn't require electricity?

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by cowboydoc on 12/07/01 09:39 AM (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[RichZ]

Thanks for the warning, Richard! I was looking at this very product, but I thought it was kind of pricey. I keep heated water in the horses stalls, and allow them free acess to them so they can always get a drink.
I keep my Belgian foal in her stall at night anyway. My vet suggested I do that, so she gets used to coming in when called (she has become very obediant!), and is used to being confined in a stall for any emergency. I let her out into the padock all day. She's still too young to join the other horses in the pasture. The dominant mare is still pretty hostile to her, so I have the padock divided in half with livestock fencing, topped with two electric strands, so she can see the other horses, and the dominant mare can't stomp her. Our gelding and older mare love her, and they socialize through the fence. I sometimes let her visit with her two friends, under supervision. I keep the goats in with her, and they're all pals.

Rich

 

[MikePA]

Where do you have outlets in relation to the buckets? We currently have flat back buckets hung in each stall and I am trying to determine where the outlet could be located so the horses can't chew on the cord.

 

[cowboydoc]

Mike,
Well that's the luxury of building your own barn. I built it so that there is an outlet for each stall out of reach of the horses.

 

[MikePA]

Doc,

Is the outlet below the bucket, above the bucket? If above, how do you route the power cord? Maybe a picture?

Thanks.

 

[cowboydoc]

Mike,
On the front of the stall where the panel to get into the stall is the bucket is hung with clips. I route the cord under the stall and to the post in front of the stall. I use extension cords outside to go into the outlet so that I don't have to trip over them. We're leaving for the NFR in Vegas tomorrow but I'll try and remember to get you some pics when we get back. Email me and remind me if I forget to do it.

 

[MikePA]

Thanks, doc! Have a great, and safe, time at NFR.

 

[cowboydoc]

Thanks Mike we sure hope to. My oldest, 6, is a rodeo nut and quite a competitor herself. The only reason we got satellite tv was to watch the rodeos. It should be a fun time for us.

 

[DAP]

Rich ... I have two 12x12 stalls in my small barn for our 2 horses. The barn is about 120 feet from the house, but long before I got there, someone ran some copper piping from the house basement down into the barn. The house sits about 10 feet higher in elevation than the barn and the pipe enters the barn from the floor under a concrete slab.

He had 2 auto waters installed in each of the stalls. They were about $65 apiece and so far so good.

We are concerned about freezes too. I've had about 6 days since October where the merc dropped below 30F but so far, no breakage. We've wrapped the pipes with that gray foam. The horses keep the water moving through the piping through daily use. As I'm sure YOU know, the horses make good heaters themselves.

We are too concerned with fire to consider wrapping the pipes or putting any fuel-based or wood heating in the barn.

Hay burns fast.
170 year old wood burns fast too.
Manure ... that burns on its own!

The waters so far are great. I'll give you a brand name if you want. Let me know.

PS: your webpage URL in your TBN profile is missing an L at the end of ...htm ... should be:

http://www.geocities.com/cowboydoc99/4LRanch-homepage.html
Doug

 

[cowboydoc]

Hi Doug,
Sounds like you have a good setup. What kind do you have? I don't have my horses in stalls enough to have automatic waterers in there. I just have them outside. Thanks for the heads up on the webpage.

 

[DAP]

Our horse spend most of their time in the paddocks as well. Basically .. during warm months, we keep them in during the hot hours to relieve them from the insects, and turn them out in the evening overnight til it starts to warm up. The barn stays pretty cool during these weeks.

We do the opposite in the winter. They love rolling in the snow during the day, but if we have persistent rains (NOT LATELY), we keep them in to stay dry and avoid those 'kidney winds'. They're both well mannered inside and out, with no cribbing habits, etc.

As for the waterers, if ya want the product name, I can get it for ya... but it doesn't sound like you'd use em in the stables.




Doug

 

[PaulNakamura]

try nelsonmfg.com works well for us in MI

Paul
.

 

[cowboydoc]

Yes they are a good waterer but again you need electricity for them. I was looking to go the non-electric route.