Water is Life

On any farm, the most valuable commodity managed is water. Animals, like humans, can live an extended period without food, but in our subtropical climate, lifespan is measured in hours without water.

To give this topic some scale, our small cattle and poultry operations consume roughly 130 gallons of water daily. Cattle drink 3-5 gallons per head, layer chickens 10 fluid ounces, and broiler chickens double that, with a single bird at maturity consuming 20 ounces of water per day. Those numbers are consumption, not taking into account waste and evaporation.

The challenge is twofold: first, having sufficient waterers with redundancy to compensate for failures, and second, moving water to where it is physically needed.

Cattle are easy. In addition to ponds on the property and naturally occurring wetlands, we have water containers fed by a pipe system. This system is not managed with a float valve, so we check the containers daily and fill them as needed.

Bulk waterer for cattle

Our poultry operation relies on portable waterers, either bell or bucket style. These are simple and mobile, and with multiple in service, we are assured of redundancy in the event of failure.

Bucket-style poultry waterer

We prefer the Kuhl bell waterers in many respects, but we have experienced issues that have dinged our confidence in them. The bell waterers have one glaring weakness in their design: the spring that allows the bell to rise and activate the fill valve.

If this spring fails, which it can, the waterer will either not fill or continuously fill and waste the reservoir of water that feeds it.

The bucket-style waterer requires more labor to manage, but it is 100% reliable. With 100 layers in a coop, we run 5-6 waterers at all times for a 2+ day water supply.

We can hang the bucket waterers or set them on the ground. When we move the coops, the effort required to move the waterers is measured in minutes.

Kuhl bell waterers with bucket reservoir

Drip watering systems, either nipple or cup, are popular and widely used. However, they have faults. The most common issue with the nipple system is leaking, and in the cup system, objects such as small rocks can become lodged in the cup and stick the valve open.

However, a design flaw does not prevent us from using this approach. Storage is our primary challenge. With portable waterers, we can load up the Polaris and be done for the day. Lacking a water source near our coops, which are mobile by design, we do not have the ability to fill 55-gallon drums or 275-gallon IBC totes to feed a watering system on the coops.

This brings us back to the second challenge I highlighted at the beginning of this article. Moving water to where it is physically required is as much an issue as the style of watering system you opt for.

IBC tote with 275 gallon storage capacity

We address this with IBC totes, each holding 275 gallons of well water, throughout the property. We fill the totes at the well head and move them with a forklift. These are inexpensive and durable, but the only issue is that the totes have a propensity to become breeding grounds for algae. We address this with a chlorine puck suitable for swimming pools, typically 1/3 of the tablet per tote.

Staging bulk water near where we need it is a good solution, but not great. Ultimately, we will invest in a purpose-built water tender truck or trailer. Offering portable bulk water storage with the added benefit of a gas or electric pump to deliver it where needed, this solution will be a time saver and provide an ample water supply as we expand our livestock operations.

I started out by declaring that water is the most valuable commodity, and I stand by that, with one exception: time is the most valuable commodity on any farm. We are trading time for infrastructure. Investments in water systems to move water supply to where it is needed will certainly improve efficiency. This is to be continued...