water

When we moved to the farm there was an energy free cattle waterer sitting in the granary. One of the main goals of putting in the waterlines was to be able to use it this winter. I was finally able to do so a couple weeks ago.

I made a "pad" using rock instead of concrete. This will help to keep it from turning into a mudhole around the waterer.  I started out buying bags of gravel and rock from Menard's but eventually got smart and bought crushed rock from the quarry. Much, much cheaper. Here's the pad with some gravel in it: (the waterer is the gray and red thing, it has a ball in it that the cattle push down to get access to the water. The ball keeps the cold air out and helps to keep it from freezing)

 Here it is after I had put the crushed rock in. It's been a few days and it's holding up pretty well so far. Of course, I used scrap lumber lying around the farm, so I'm sure it won't last forever. I added the piece of tin to help serve as a wind break. Not sure if it does any good but it sounded good...

Watering animals in the winter is not an easy task. Right now the hogs and poultry are drinking out of rubber pans like these. When it starts to get really cold, it won't take long for the water to freeze. Since I do chores twice a day, it's not a big deal but it sure would be nice if they had access to water regardless of the temperature.

 I found this on Craigslist the other day and couldn't pass it up. I got it for about 40% of the retail price and it's never been used. These energy free drinkers do not come cheap but they are perfect for a setup like ours where we can't have electric water heaters in all the waterers. It's nothing fancy, just a super-insulated waterer but it should work really well for us.  This one is for hogs. I'm curious to see if the piglets can use it yet. Unfortunately, I didn't put underground valves with earth tubes near the hog pens (since the hogs will be relocated in the spring) so it'll probably have to wait until next winter.