Homesteading Forum banner

Ice in cattle water?

1K views 16 replies 9 participants last post by  genebo 
#1 ·
With all this extreme heat were having people are trying to find ways to keep their animals from over heating. A neighbor told me that she freezes jugs of water and then tosses them in her cattles water tank. Anyone else ever do this?
 
#11 ·
Our tank is inside a 3-sided loafing shed, so it is shaded in the summer and is protected from wind in the winter. But unless you have a huge tank that doesn't refill often, the refilling of the water should cool it down and keep it from just continuing to heat up from the solar gain.

I would not bother to put ice in the water. I don't like to drink ice cold water when I'm out in the heat, just cool water or tepid. I would think the same thing of the stock, cold water into a hot body would not be doing them any favors.

I would not "sink" a tank like shown above for the same reasons as others gave. That small calves could fall in and not be able to get out, and that the tank couldn't be cleaned very easily.
 
#12 ·
Our tank is inside a 3-sided loafing shed, so it is shaded in the summer and is protected from wind in the winter. But unless you have a huge tank that doesn't refill often, the refilling of the water should cool it down and keep it from just continuing to heat up from the solar gain.

I would not bother to put ice in the water. I don't like to drink ice cold water when I'm out in the heat, just cool water or tepid. I would think the same thing of the stock, cold water into a hot body would not be doing them any favors.

I would not "sink" a tank like shown above for the same reasons as others gave. That small calves could fall in and not be able to get out, and that the tank couldn't be cleaned very easily.
 
#13 ·
Our tank is inside a 3-sided loafing shed, so it is shaded in the summer and is protected from wind in the winter. But unless you have a huge tank that doesn't refill often, the refilling of the water should cool it down and keep it from just continuing to heat up from the solar gain.

I would not bother to put ice in the water. I don't like to drink ice cold water when I'm out in the heat, just cool water or tepid. I would think the same thing of the stock, cold water into a hot body would not be doing them any favors.

I would not "sink" a tank like shown above for the same reasons as others gave. That small calves could fall in and not be able to get out, and that the tank couldn't be cleaned very easily.
 
#15 ·
With bovine body temperature @ 101 degrees F, it won't take long till the cool drinking water reaches body temperature. I agree it makes the owner smile and that's about it. This winter we ought to consider warming trough water too. Just kidding, enjoy your livestock and forget about freezing ice jugs....Topside
 
#16 ·
There is a calf-catcher platform in the stock tank. It is basically a wooden foot stool almost as big as the tank. It's held down with bricks. No calf has ever fallen in.

The tank backs up to the electric fence, so they always face the fence. They never back up to the fence, so they don't poop in the water.

Once a year I tie up the float ball, lift out the calf-catcher, and scoop out all the water (and mud). I let go of the float ball and it refills. Good for another year.
 
#17 ·
I just found my records on the sunken stock tank.

It was first installed in May of 2004. It was gravity fed from my pond. However, during the summer drought, the pond level fell so low the feed pipe lost its prime.

That's when I trenched a pipe from the house, below the frost line. It feeds into the bottom of the tank, so here in central Virginia, the valve never freezes. The tank has worked flawlessly ever since then.

The tank is in afternoon shade, so the water never does get hot, like an exposed tank would. It seldom ever has ice on it, and when it does it is usually gone by late morning.

I also have a Behlen Frost Free Waterer in the middle of the pasture. It is a great waterer, too. It is fed by the same trenched pipe from the house. It never freezes and never needs cleaning. It's better than the sunken tank, but only by a little bit. It also costs a lot more. $600 vs $100
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top