Water to far out fields

[CindyOR]

What methods are you others using to get water on a daily basis to animals in fields far from the tap?

We have 20 acres of very wooded and hilly property and we'd like to fence some of the back areas for our animals. Right now we run multiple hoses linked together to get to the barn from the pump shed. But it would take about 20 hoses linked together to get to the back area and I'd like to hear what other creative ways there are to work this. I do use roof run off to fill troughs in the winter in the barn area, but that doesn't work in the summer or non-rainy days in a row.

Any ideas that are low cost but work well?

Thanks,
CindyOR

[tinknal]

If there is a good place to dig a pond that is one solution. Otherwise set up your pastures with lanes, or like the spokes of a wheel, with the area with water being the center. Another solution is a "water wagon" i.e. barrels that you can fill and deliver to a remote tank.

[SolarGary]

Hi,
Maybe you could scale something like this up to a larger size:
http://www.oasisguzzler.com/GuzzlerCollector.htm

If you could arrange about 1000 sqft of catchment area (about 32 by 32 ft), it would capture about 500 gallons for each inch of rain that falls. You would need a tank of some kind to store the water after rains, and meter it into a trough with something like a float valve?

Alternatively, the 300 ft coils of the black poly pipe are pretty cheap. You would want to look at what the elevation gain/loss is to see how much pumping pressure you need.

Gary

[kasilofhome]

shelter for animals Nothing fancy just scap stuff - nothing more than for sun or rain but a metal roof with a gutter which leads to storage which ends up to a wading pool.

[littlebitfarm]

I got my hands on a couple of those 300 gallon totes (plastic inside aluminum cage). I set one by the water tank. Set the other one on my trailer. I fill the trailer tank at the house and then drive out to the other tank. Could either wait forever for about half the water to transfer over. But I bring the generator along and use a sump pump to transfer all the water. Total cost ZERO!

Kathie

[Callieslamb]

we have discussed this. Our property is long and narrow. to rotate pastures, it's best to leave them in the far back at times. We are going to put a water trough on a trailer or pallet of some kind and just drive it to the barn to be filled, bringing it back and forth with the tractor.

[Tom in TN]

Cindy,

I have the same problem. It's a real pain, but I bought two 62 1/2 gallon plastic water containers from TSC. I keep them in a little utility trailer. When I choose to keep the cows in the back pasture, I fill the containers at the barn, drive the tractor with the trailer out the where I have a couple of water troughs in the back pasture, and drain the containers into the troughs.

It's a time consuming pain, but that's what I do. In the summer, I have to fill the troughs twice a day.

As someone suggested, I need to fence up a lane that would allow them to come up the barn to drink and then go back to the pasture. It's about a quarter of mile back there. Time & money. Time & money. A lot can be done with time and money.

Tom in TN

[7thswan]

Big ol plastic tank in the back of your truck. Fill it up and drain it into the water trough. No big deal,we did it for years.They sell em at TSC. I'm guessing they hold atlest 250 gal. I'll ask dh when he is awake.

[houndlover]

We pump water from the river on our property up along the fence line. It's a simple 3/4 hp 110v pump from Harbor Freight, $100. It freezes in the winter so we have a 300 gallon tank we set in a utility trailer and pull with the tractor and gravity feed into tanks.

[geo in mi]

Personally, I would consider corridors made with electric fencing(provided you have large animals that can be kept within electric fencing). Wire is cheaper than hoses....And they will learn to walk to the water, so you won't have to. And you can check and count them each time they come up--and they will.....Save my legs and resources.......And allow for rotational grazing if needed.

geo

[ronbre]

yeah I'm thinking the corridors would also save and if gas goes to $5 a gallon, you are going to save bigtime by not having to pump and drive water to them..but also check into the pond thing, although if you have to PAY to dig the pond, you won't have to pay as much to put up the corridor fencing

[oregon woodsmok]

Black irrigation drip line. 200 ft coil is about $25. They can be fitted with garden hose fittings on the end. Use like a hose. Put a turn valve on the far end so you can turn water off and on without walking back to the faucet.

I've just got it laid on the surface of the dirt. The water inside gets blistering hot, but mine will drain if I open both ends.

[CindyOR]

Hi all -thank you for all great solutions. Running a line out that way or putting a holding tank would be the best solution for us. The area isn't accessable currently to driving out there even with a ATV. Too many large scotch brooms and fir trees in the way. For our animals electric fencing isn't an option either.

Appreciate the input.
CindyOR

[Ryan NC]

depending on what type of soil you have and how deep the water table is a sand point and a small well pump powered by a generator can be very effective.

[agmantoo]

I would go half way back to the furthermost part of the property with a buried pex line. Then I would use one of recycled off road mining machinery tires with a float control as a waterer. Then I would create lanes for the animals to use to access the automatic waterer.

[foxtrapper]

Tubing.

Remember, you don't need to flow much water if you've got time on your hand. And with a watering trough of some sort, you've lots of time. Even with a flow of a mere gallon an hour, that's 24 gallons a day of water into that trough. That's more than enough for many animals.

So, run small tubing, probably with a pressure regulator, and let it go. HarborFreight sells just such a kit with 100' of tubing for $7.

[Jennifer L.]

We always used lanes to get cows to the furthest fields. They could come back to the barn for water when they wanted it.

Jennifer