Waterers

[Jenn]

Hi All,

I saw in the archives there was the occasional discussion of automatic waterers. Was wondering if anyone had any good new good thoughts? Looks like Nelson seems okay. Any other brands people like? Any tips on doing the pad and under pad drain? Seems like a pain, but hopefully worth it?!

Thanks!

Jenn

[K Bar K Farm]

Hi Jenn,

When we installed some automatic waterers, we were talked into putting in the 'energy free' waterers in (ours happen to be Lapp waterers). These rely on ground heat and water movement (via a tube dug directly underneath the waterer) through them to keep them frost free.

In short, DON'T do it with sheep. We found that the sheep didn't consume enough water (even if we had 100 ewes on a waterer) to keep sufficient water moving through them in winter. In addition, if we had fresh snow on the ground, the ewes wouldn't even break a path to the waterers, further defeating their purpose.

The first winter we had them, they froze solid in December........and never thawed out until April 10.........

Fortunately we had the foresight to lay electric line in the ditch ('just in case') and have since put heaters in them in the winter time.

Now they work fine...but my other big complaint with them is that lambs <60-70 lb. physically cannot reach the water inside them, even with a concrete 'stepping block' put alongside the waterer- the water level is too low inside for them, and if they do figure it out (some did, some didn't), they nearly have to dive into the waterer to get a drink....getting poopy hooves in the water.

We have used several varieties of Ritchie waterers, and I do like them. That's most likely what I'll use for any additional permanent waterers in the future (with heaters for winter).

Kathy

[Richard Ehrhardt]

[Double Barrel]

My auto water's names ar KJ and Jake. They work in all kinds of weather!

[Richard Ehrhardt]

The waterer I accidently sent a photo of is a ritchie fountain that has a submersible 250 w heater. This is a good design and is priced lower than many models and was made specifically for sheep and goats.

Here is a photo of another ritchie fountain I recently installed. I had owned this one already so put it in my new barn. It is taller and less prone to getting manure in it but you provide cinder blocks or similar to allow lambs to drink out of it. You can see the cement base and cement pedestal (two different cement pours). I made an "earth tube" out of 8 inch plastic culvert that goes into the ground 5 feet and contains the water line. This allow the heat of the ground to essentially maintain the water line above freezing up to near ground level. When the heater is on, the water line above ground within the earth tube is also protected from freezing. There is a shut off within the earth tube near the top so you can access it. I also placed a ground rod in the cement and ran a ground wire from it into the water bowl to make it more safe. I ran electricity through conduit in the cement pedestal also. I used lots of dielectric paste on the outlet plug under the waterer to prevent corrosion which is a problem in these installations. the earth tube is cut off so as to nearly touch the bottom of the waterer bowl. A small window was also cut in the earth tube above the cement surface to allow access to the shut off valve.

Sorry if this is a little confusing but proper installation of waterers is important but a little difficult to describe.

[sheepherder56]

One little trick that I learned........ When installing it make your supply line a frost free hydrant. It sure makes it nice when you need to turn the water off in a hurry!
On a semi related note, has anyone used nipple drinkers for sheep? If so, pros, cons,hints etc please.

Rob

[Laura L.]

This is what we have in the yard. Cattle on one side and sheep on the other. The top is usually open, but I when I'm filling water buckets for jugs it's closed as a convenient place to put a bucket. There's a frost free hydrant hidden from this angle next to the black lamb. It's a good waterer and has been in for more than 10 years and it has a heater inside. The only thing I don't like is cleaning it in the winter.

Laura

[Jenn]

Thanks for all the responses! I was wondering if the ones w/o electric would do okay with sheep, now I know!

Looking over some of the install info, seems a bit daunting, but seems like one of those things that once you start it, its not so bad. I'm considering the Ritchie brand, so glad people like it.

Laura- what brand are yours?

Thanks!

Jenn

[Laura L.]

John tells me it's a Ritchie waterer. A hog/cattle combination. He remembers that it was put in in 1997. No problems with it.

Laura

[Janet McNally]

I've had good luck with the traditional Ritchie fountains that use a plug in heater. As Richard showed, there is a sheep/goat fountain that is the best option for most situations. Below is a square cattle fountain that I installed because it suited my particular need, which was to serve 4 paddocks with water with one installation, and to accomodate cattle, horses, and sheep (sometimes up to 500 sheep). You can see by the photo I have a problem in that the 500 watt heater it came with is not good down to 30 below zero. It is not even good down to -10 like it claimed. I solved the problem by adding a 1000 watt heater in the trough. So when temps dip below 0, I plug in the extra heater. I should add that the trough is not frozen solid with the 500 watt heater, so no damage is done.

This trough is too high for small lambs, but I deliberately selected the cattle trough for this reason. If power were to go out for an extended time, there is enough room underneath this trough to use a kerosene heater (looks like the old tin lamp). While the lamp will not keep the trough from freezing, it will protect the inner workings from freeze damage. In addition this trough has a (12 inch?) culvert extending 8 feet into the earth to make use of the earth heat. I have installed a weather proof outlet (in case of a leak water will not spray into the outlet), and have plugged into that a light bulb and heat cable.

The cage to the right is to prevent the rams in the feed yard from jumping the trough to mix with the ewes. Otherwise I have not had any issues with sheep breeching the corner (unless pursued by an youthful border collie).

Since my lambs are not born until May, I do not need a freeze proof water supply for them. Lambs are watered by either rubbermaid tanks or Kane water pans on black plastic pipe.

Incidently... the majority of the winter, most of my sheep eat snow for water. The trough is here for the rams in the feedyard, the horses, and for the times when there is no snow.

Janet

[Janet McNally]

Richard can you explain how you have a hydrant installed with the trough? is that on the inside under the fountain, just a foot or so off the ground? neat Idea, wish I had thought of that.

Janet

[Janet McNally]

I have seen the hog type nipples used on several farms. There will be a lot of water dribbled around the bottom of the installation. Outdoors this can mean a build up of ice (considerable in MN), or mud. One farm made a large gravel pad around their installation inside a barn (Spooner sheep station??) which seem to take care of the mud issue and I believe the barn is heated to some extent.

Janet

[sheepherder56]

[quote="Janet McNally"]I have seen the hog type nipples used on several farms. There will be a lot of water dribbled around the bottom of the installation. Outdoors this can mean a build up of ice (considerable in MN), or mud. One farm made a large gravel pad around their installation inside a barn (Spooner sheep station??) which seem to take care of the mud issue and I believe the barn is heated to some extent.

Janet[/quote]

The thought is to use nipple drinkers on a water station in a MIG grazing situation grazing spurge. As such, the water station would be moved every 3 to 5 days so mud likely wouldn't be a big issue, particularly where they are thinking of using it ( Think dry and sandy). But.......... this would be with custom grazed ewes so one of the things that I was wondering was how hard it is to get them started on the nipples?
Thanks.

Rob

[Janet McNally]

instead of the nipples why not go with the Kane water pan? two pans (3 gallons each) is enough to keep up with 200 ewes. you can use the quick connect couplers so the pans can move with the sheep. http://www.gundogsupply.com/gpw2-waterer.html
Janet

[woolpuller]

I have 4 water hog nipples in the middle barn. To work properly they must be at 90 degrees not the 45 degrees that hogs use. Yes, Janet they dribble a lot, but I have grating underneath that goes to a tank that distributes the excess out in 3 tiles just like a septic tank.
We also have 2 nelson water bowls for over 44 yrs. Thes are mounted like nelson suggests won a tile that goes into the ground 4'