to cold to drink

[bulldog41]

SO this is an awful cold winter. we've had below zero for two weeks some -40 nights and its not going to let up soon. SO.... My jersey cow who has lived in a dairy barn all her life and will starve herself if we give her dry hay, she will seriously only eat wet bales. And she is not drinking much she usually drink 30 to 35 gallons a day since the deep cold set in she is drinking less and less. Her milk production is down quite a bit to. We live off grid so a tank heater is just not an option. We take her water two or three times per day depending on how fast its freezing. How can we encourage her to drink???? We take her out warm water cold water, does not make any difference. Thanks, she sure is a spoiled cow!! Though I do feel bad for her out there.

[TheFarmerMommy]

I'll be the first to admit that my cattle experience is confined to beef. I know dairy cows in lactation have different nutritional requirements. Hopefully someone will come along & say if this is ok or not. But could you sprinkle her hay with some minerals/salt? I know some horsemen in cold weather climates do that.

Doesn't help you this winter, but you might look into a BarBar A waterer. They don't use any electricity.

[myheaven]

What about adding molasses to her water?

[kycrawler]

Do a Google search for m 67 immersion heater I use a home built version in a stock tank and it works fine only have to run it a little every day and I use diesel in mine probably use a pint of fuel every 2 days when it is really cold next one I build will probably be propane just have to remember to shut it off with liquid fuel you can just put in a small amount light it and leave it