automatic waterer freezing

Hi Genebo, Let us know if you have any questions about our waterers. We have waterers that are specifically designed for goats. I wish I could offer more information regarding your current models. Our waterers are specifically designed to have our closures lowered so hopefully this will work for you. Please let us know if you have any questions. We welcome them.

Thank you. I have the older all metal Commander 1. I could see that the bulb fixture over the top for a few minutes would have been too much and I could not take my attention away from it. Added some warm water to free the disc. Temps have moderated and the standard heater is keeping up for now.

Thank you Bret. I misunderstood and thought you had one of our plastic waterers such as the Thrifty King. I am glad you were able to get it going again. If you need replacement heaters for the unit or have questions about the thermostat please let us know.

Thank you. When I bought it, at a near-by dealer, I also bought every replacement part to have on hand. Just for fun, is the Commander model still made?

Commander was discontinued however all parts are still available. We have updated the unit the the Eco 1. Same design with a stainless steel trough and parts but it has a flip top cover for easy cleaning.

I think it's great that we have the mfr. posting on this topic.

I'm not sure what the 1/2"-1" will accomplish. Won't the gap allow the freezing air to get to the water around the sides and underneath the ball? The combination of snow, slush, and cow slobber makes it very difficult to break loose, so after removing as much snow and ice as I can, I pour some warm (not hot) water over the openings and wait a few minutes until I can kick it loose with my heel. (The same thing happens on a two-hole waterer in the shade with 10 donkeys using it.)

What am I doing wrong? I'm not mechanically inclined, so I am at a loss as to what I ought to be doing in this situation. I hope these cold snaps are few and far between.

Here's what I've got: a 4-hole split between two pastures. No heavy traffic on this waterer (only 3 cows on the shady side, 2 big donkeys on the sunny side). Temp this morning was 4*F. It's now up to 30*F so I went out and got some photos.

4-hole, shady side:


Closeup of shady side, one of the openings:




Sunny side, still has ice built up at 30*F:

Hi G. Thank you so much for the pictures! The waterers are designed to have the closures sit that low so that the water doesn't pool around the edges. All of our published testing implements this setting. Once the air temperature reaches freezing point, the waterer will lose about 1 degree per hour. Honestly G. you are doing absolutely nothing wrong other than not having enough head drinking from the unit. The Thrifty King 4 is a very large waterer that can water up to 200 head. I do understand that having a larger capacity is nice but in this unusual cold snap, the animals simply are not circulating enough water. This applies to the 2 hole as well with the donkeys. The 10 head requirement that we have are full size horses or cattle. Donkeys, especially during the colder months simply are not drinking enough.

A couple things that might help until it warms up a bit is 1. Make sure that the water seal grooves are filled between the entire red top and the yellow base and the very top cover. 2. Make sure an all weather sealant is around the base of the unit to prevent air gaps. 3. You already have the closures sitting low. Remove any ice build up that may be on the closures. 4. As a last bit of an effort, try scooping water out of the unit a couple times during the day to help circulate the warmer incoming water.

I know this cold snap is unusual and hopefully warmer weather is right around the corner. If you find that the cold weather is a repeat occurrence and if your herd size doesn't increase, adding the optional heat may be the next route to take.

Thanks, Ritchie! I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing and wait for warmer temperatures. Just so you know, when there are no temperature extremes or things of that nature, there is no water visible around the edges of the plastic balls; they float up to the rim.

As far as weather sealant, I'll check with our installer who is not far from us so that I get the right product (unless you have a suggestion of what I should use?). And I'll check the water seal grooves when it warms up a bit.

I know that this 4-hole unit is overkill for our numbers in these paddocks; a 2-hole unit would have met the needs of this pasture configuration just fine. The donkeys have a heated 16-gal. bucket in their barn, but the cows depend on this Ritchie unit so I stomp on it several times a day when it's very cold to make sure they have access.

Thank you for all the suggestions and for helping us out on this thread! Very nice of you to do so!