How do you guys get water to your pastures in winter?

[love_casper]

Hey everyone!

This was our first summer on the new ranch. Haven't said much about it because it's a work in progress and is hardly presentable yet lol! The minis have their own barn with connected dry lot, sort of a run-in set up, and a water pump is right by their barn, so they each have heated buckets in their stalls. The stalls in the big horse barn have Nelson waterers, which are amazing.

The problem is right now we are rotating turnout between the 2 working pastures we have right now. (9 big horses here, counting our boarders. Plus my 6 minis.) Each one has their own water pump close enough to run a hose from the pump to the buckets. But neither is anywhere near an outlet. The pumps that supply the water to the pasture are on either side of the arena... 1 set of pastures is to the right of the arena, the rest are all wayyyyy out behind it. I believe it's around 12 acres of pasture or so. Whole property is 17. I believe once upon a time, the old owners of our house devised a way to get water to the back. We have no way to find out what it was though, the house was foreclosed on and she ripped up every single piece of the place she possibly could... gates, panels, hoses, hotwire and all. It's been quite a puzzle putting it back together. One side of the arena fence (right by one pump) has a pvc pipe running across the top, which I suspect was to put the hose inside to get it to the back. Would that stop a hose from freezing? If not, it's a rather odd decoration lol!

Our feed store has these floating heaters that are battery opperated, which apparently work but many people said they've had problems with horses playing with them and flipping them out. Really can't afford to run electricity out there this year. Much as I love automatic waterers. Any suggestions? Also, we unscrew the hoses from the pump when it starts getting cold. Learned the hard way that icicles don't come out easily! We had one hose crack last winter.... any way to keep the average hose safe without buying the really expesive so called "freeze-proof ones?" We'd have to get so many to string them to the back pastures...

Help, my resourceful mini friends? Please and thank you!

 

[Bess Kelly]

This may, or may not, be something you can do this year but, I have run underground PVC straight down the middle of my farm, some 1400 feet of it!

In all, it cost somewhere in the area of $750. for that, the ditchwitch, spigots, etc.

There are several tap offs to bring up water to spigots. Now, I also have this set up so that at each area where I have a line coming up from underground, there is a dug out area at the base, a gravel filled pit going down about 18", and the hole in lined with brick, block, wood etc. on the sides, extending above ground another foot or so, with a lift off top. what I have done is install a spigot about 8" above the intersection of the upline and the horizontal underground, just below that spigot, I have a water cutoff.....just a simple ball & handle turner within the line.

What happens is this. I cut off the water at the below ground level cutoff, I open the faucet just above it and the spigot at the top where you connect a hose. The water in the vertical section of pipe drains out at the lower spigot, down into the graveled pit to carry it away from the immediate area, it dissipates into the soil. Lay a big plastic bag of insulation into this little housing/hut and put the lid on. In most areas this will keep all thawed out. You guys WAAAAAY north, this won't work because your freeze line is too far down. There have been a couple times when I had to hook the hose to the lower spigot as the top wouldn't turn open. Mostly it works great.

A lot depends on your areas general weather conditions as to what you can do. But, if you only needed to dig a trench put in pipe for a few hundred feet, it could work. You may have to further insulate, etc. but, the system has been great for me at two farms, for almost 20 yrs.

 

[Miniv]

When you can afford it.......put down pipes underground.

We can't yet, so we have heavy duty hoses running from our frost-fee hydrant. And when we are done we roll them up to drain the water after each use.

Each trough has (or will have during winter) a trough heater. Because our system cannot support all of our heaters at the same time, Larry has connected timers to each. They are heavy duty versions, much like what people use to time their lamps in their homes. They are rotated to turn on and off every 3 hours. This keeps the water troughs from freezing during the night. It also helps keep fuses from blowing. P

 

[Marty]

I assume your spickets are frost free and well below the frost line. All I do is roll up my hoses every night and bring them into the barn where it won't freeze. Yes this is a pain dragging hose but when the sun comes out and it thaws, I just drag them back outside and hook them up.

 

[ruffian]

Couple of things come to mind - never seen the battery operated heaters. Can they be secured UNDER the water? I've seen some metal cages for heaters around here.

The other option would be to set up a drain system. Is there a way to elevate the mid point of the hose to ensure complete drainage at both ends? A friend did her whole cattle barn with PVC pipe up in the rafters and it works great.

I'd guess that the PVC on top of the railing was to keep the horses from chewing a hose.

 

[~Lisa~]

Also just a note.. I use the 150 watt bird bath heaters or utility de-icers much less electricty then the larger ones and they work very well. I use them in a 100 gallon tank and it keeps it pretty ice free although they did freeze over on the top when it got below 0 but thankfully we do not have that weather often and it was just a sheet on top the rest was still not frozen

 

[Katiean]

One word...BUCKETS!!!! All winter long I carry 5 gal. buckets of HOT water to the water tubs. Good Luck!!

 

[ohmt]

We've always used buckets here....even in the 40 below weather and during blizzards. The things we do for our horses!

 

[shorthorsemom]

I just run a super long extension cord and plug it into one of those buckets that have the thermostat and heating element built into the bucket. I put the bucket against the fence and run the cord through the fence and snap the bucket to the fence and all the cord is hidden and the horses cannot reach anything. I have two buckets one cord and switch back and forth so one is always thawed and the other is thawing. I tried the sinking heater and it kept getting played with and tossed out. These buckets come in different sizes, but since my boys like fresh water, I didn't go for the muck bucket sized one.

On my hose. I hung a couple of hooks on my fence where the horses can't reach and unhook the hose from the spigot and hang it by the middle on the hook and stretch both ends down the driveway. It drains all the way and doesn't freeze up.

I do have one of those warming hoses with an electric element in it on my wish list, but so far this system works pretty well. When it gets super cold and everything freezes I haul water from the house in a wagon.

 

[muffntuf]

I use the 16 gallon buckets outside, run them during the time the animals are outside, empty and unplug them at night (electric bill). Inside I use heated buckets and the same thing if its not in use, its emptied and unplugged.

I had a 8X10 tack room built, insulated it top to floor (cement floor) and put a moisture barrier in and then paneled it. When it is below freezing, that room is heated with a room self contained oil heater. And I roll my hose up in there after draining.

I do wait as long as I can before I start running the electric bill up. I had a hot water heater installed in the tack room, so until I can't keep water from freezing, I go out and warm up the water troughs with hot water twice a day. Animals are smart, they watch you, if you bring a hose out, they know their water is getting warmed up.

Otherwise, if its below zero, I carry buckets out. Taking a hose out in below zero weather doesn't work.

My water spigot is frost free, but I have found it still will freeze. But I was smart, its in the tack room too.

 

[little lady]

Great subject as I am in a similar situation. Has anyone ever used those thermal buckets? They use no electric, are a 5 gallon bucket that rest inside a thermal outside. I think they run anywhere from 80.00-150.00. I have been trying to figure a way to wrap a water tank but haven't come up with anything that is horse proof.( I have one that would think I put it there for her to terrorize...lol)I been considering this...any input? Sorry don't mean to hijack your thread.

 

[~Lisa~]

I have used the insulated buckets which work pretty well inside the barn they sometimes get a thin layer of ice but nothing the horses can not push the top part down to get the water to come up over the top

I also use buckets and LOVE Jill for the idea of a gas can I can fill it up and put the lid on and it doesnt slosh as I drag it out to the pasture.

We have heated tank in the turn out and one horse in the pasture most of the day where there is no water source so I empty the bucket at nig ht and fill every morning with water from the heated tank.. HUGE PITA for sure

We just got heated buckets and electricity to the barn so of course it will not be cold this winter lol but before that broke ice and re filled every day.

 

[muffntuf]

You can wrap a tank - you have to build a tank holder out of wood and then use foam or regular insulation to wrap it. It works pretty good until it gets below zero. There were a couple of threads on this from last year if you do a search.

 

[chandab]

One word...BUCKETS!!!! All winter long I carry 5 gal. buckets of HOT water to the water tubs. Good Luck!!

Me,too!

Where I can, I bring all the horses in closer, so that I don't ahve to haul buckets as far. One pasture does have a frost-free hydrant (saddle horses), but no electricity, so no heater; have ax will chop, all winter (this water tank, also waters the bulls all winter). Minis paddock was supposed to get a frost-free hydrant this summer/fall, but our wicked weather put everything behind several weeks, so its not going to happen this year; so another winter with buckets.

 

[Relic]

OMG would love to have piped in water out in the stallion paddocks...but l haul hot water from the tap outside the barn to about 10 paddocks morning and nite and just dump it on top of the cold or the frozen depending on the weather. l will say they wait for me now and have learned when l yell out water come and get your water...they stop what there doing and drink..this winter l am so lucky l have the old thing l married to haul and take over that chore now that he's retired...

gonna love it just love it:BigGrin

 

[love_casper]

Thanks so much for your help everyone!! Why do I have a feeling this is going to be a verrrry long winter! Last winter I'd be out feeding in -18 degree weather quite regularly....

Extension cords and hauling buckets. Oh this will be grand.

Well I think I'll pick up one of the floating heaters to begin with, and see if I can somehow secure it into the tank. Maybe by adding some type of covering that the floater can't get out of, but the horses can get into. Still going to be unscrewing and rolling hoses. Oh joy...

 

[~Lisa~]

If you can find the bird bath heaters or utility heaters not only do they have lower wattage but they also just drop to the bottom of the tank. I run my cord thru a PVC pipe and the pipe goes into the tank so they can not really reach the heater at the bottom

 

[muffntuf]

Alex, you can put a piece of plywood over the top of the tank and screw it down. Keeps the mouths from playing with it.

 

[kuelinkellyville]

If you don't want to take your water hose in everytime you water and you have an air compressor you can fill a portable air tank with air, and then you can rig up a way to hook the air hose to the end of the water hose and when you are finished watering, then you just blow the water out of the water hose. I have been doing this for a couple of years and it works out really good, as long as I don't forget to do it that is...

Danny

 

[Ashley]

Hey everyone!

This was our first summer on the new ranch. Haven't said much about it because it's a work in progress and is hardly presentable yet lol! The minis have their own barn with connected dry lot, sort of a run-in set up, and a water pump is right by their barn, so they each have heated buckets in their stalls. The stalls in the big horse barn have Nelson waterers, which are amazing.

The problem is right now we are rotating turnout between the 2 working pastures we have right now. (9 big horses here, counting our boarders. Plus my 6 minis.) Each one has their own water pump close enough to run a hose from the pump to the buckets. But neither is anywhere near an outlet. The pumps that supply the water to the pasture are on either side of the arena... 1 set of pastures is to the right of the arena, the rest are all wayyyyy out behind it. I believe it's around 12 acres of pasture or so. Whole property is 17. I believe once upon a time, the old owners of our house devised a way to get water to the back. We have no way to find out what it was though, the house was foreclosed on and she ripped up every single piece of the place she possibly could... gates, panels, hoses, hotwire and all. It's been quite a puzzle putting it back together. One side of the arena fence (right by one pump) has a pvc pipe running across the top, which I suspect was to put the hose inside to get it to the back. Would that stop a hose from freezing? If not, it's a rather odd decoration lol!

Our feed store has these floating heaters that are battery opperated, which apparently work but many people said they've had problems with horses playing with them and flipping them out. Really can't afford to run electricity out there this year. Much as I love automatic waterers. Any suggestions? Also, we unscrew the hoses from the pump when it starts getting cold. Learned the hard way that icicles don't come out easily! We had one hose crack last winter.... any way to keep the average hose safe without buying the really expesive so called "freeze-proof ones?" We'd have to get so many to string them to the back pastures...

Help, my resourceful mini friends? Please and thank you!

The pipe is probably to run electric cords out to plug in a tank. As for the hoses we haul them in and out of the house every day to fill the tank. When not in use they sit in the bath tub. Then the kid has to take them out of the tube to shower, then put the hose back in.