Auto Water

[LittleRibbie]

Ive never liked auto waterers b/c I could never be sure horses were drinking enough...but now Im thinking maybe I would like to try them. Lately I feel like I spend an hr. every day dumping buckets and refilling w/fresh water ( 2x day )...I feel like Im just wasting water and I hate dragging the hose across the barn and then rolling it back up.

The out side pasture water buckets are bigger and are not as bad b/c I only dump,wash and refill those in the AM.

Should I just continue w/what I have always done and stop being so lazy or do you think auto water is the way to go. I figure if I do have a horse in ?? I could just cover that particular fountain and put a bucket in w/that horse to check water cunsumption. Also for those that do use them, did your horses just learn to push down on the paddle or did you have to drop a little food in there at first to give them an idea. Any particular type?

Thanks for any imput

Heidi

 

[wildoak]

We moved to a place 25 years ago that had automatic waterers, and I've never looked back LOL. I wouldn't trade them for the world - I know some don't like them since you can't monitor water consumption, but I watch my horses pretty closely and we also now have a cut off in every stall so I can shut one waterer off if need be and hang a bucket. I'm in and out of the barn a lot, I clean stalls....so I know if someone isn't drinking or is drinking excessively. I have enough to do without dragging a hose out several times a day and worrying that someone will run out of water.

Jan

 

[Echo Acres]

I too would like to hear peoples experience with them. What about outside in your pastures such as the "Richie" waters. We are thinking about putting them in our paddocks so we don't have to use tank heaters in the winter. Would love to hear pros/cons on this subject especially in colder climates $25.00 a heater per month. Right now we have 5 paddocks with their own water tanks. We were thinking of sharing a double sided auto waterer between the 4 paddocks that are side by side. So we would need to put in 2 and run 1 tank heater or put in a 3rd one.

 

[RhineStone]

We have a Nelson waterer that we installed when we built the barn. WE LOVE IT! It is shared between two paddocks. No slop around water tanks, no dumping and refilling. The bowl is stainless steel and is easy to clean daily, without tools or shutting off the water supply. You can "toss" the water away from the waterer, take it in the house to clean it if you wanted, etc.

Nelson makes a water consumption monitor for their waterers, but we didn't get that. Even if you have community buckets, you won't necessarily know which horse is not drinking. We should have put the Nelsons in the barn between the stalls, but we hardly ever keep our horses in, so we only have to use buckets once in a while, like for a colic, and then you do know if the horse is drinking or pooping. There is no "learning curve" for the horses, as it is filled on a balance beam system. When the pan empties, the waterer fills up, even as the horse drinks.

We had a different waterer at a place we rented, and in order to clean it, you had to take off the top with a screwdriver to shut off the water if you wanted to, pull the plug and flush the pan, but that made mud around the waterer.

The Nelson uses ground heat to keep it warm, with a small heater at the bottom of the pan. We haven't noticed our electric bill jumping a whole lot more. It only kicks on at 40 degrees or less. We have only had the Nelson freeze up in extremely cold conditions (less than 0 F), and that was partly our fault. You are supposed to recaulk the seam between the waterer and the pad every fall before it gets cold and we didn't do that. They even send you material reminding you to do fall maintenence, but we didn't get around to it. We do now!

They even have horse feeders I would love to get. http://www.nelsonmfg.com/

Their products aren't cheap, but will last forever. When we went to purchase ours, a lady came into the booth and said she was having a problem with the waterer. We looked at the salesman and said for him to get himself out of this one. The lady then said that she loved the waterer and this was the first problem that she had with it in 10 years, and it was on the property when she bought it! The part she needed was really simple. We had had ours for about 10 years, and it cost us about $700 to put it in, including digging the water line. That's about $70/year right now, and that cost is continually going down as the years go up. Less than $0.20/day to not have to drag hoses, swish buckets, deal with slime in the tank and slop around it.

The only problem that we have is when we go to shows and the horses have to drink out of "that stagnant water in a bucket" that isn't moving like it is at home! We should buy a Nelson to juryrig at the shows to "circulate" their water so they like to drink it more!

Myrna

 

[ohmt]

We use richies for our two mares pastures and they are GREAT. Always clean, cold water for them. Cons are that you'll need to wash it weekly otherwise it gets slimey, also you will have to get a heater for when temps drop to the zero degree mark because then it will freeze. Zero to 32 is always fine here though.

 

[Mominis]

I'm on the other side of the fence. I HATE them. Small things like a change in the amount of water consumption can tip me off to a potential problem with my horse. I monitor the amount that Shake drinks daily. I'm fairly obsessive (ya' think? lol) about my horse and I scrub out and change his buckets daily. You doing it twice a day makes me feel like a slacker. lol

Even if I won the big lottery and could have anything in my dream barn that I wanted, I would NOT get autowaterers.

 

[RhineStone]

Small things like a change in the amount of water consumption can tip me off to a potential problem with my horse. I monitor the amount that Shake drinks daily. I'm fairly obsessive (ya' think? lol) about my horse and I scrub out and change his buckets daily. You doing it twice a day makes me feel like a slacker. lol

All the more reason to get a Water Consumption Monitor accessory for your Nelson Waterer!

And they are super easy to clean daily!

(I should sell these things...

)

 

[wildoak]

I have drooled over the Nelsons lol, but I have too many waterers to use them - would have to mortgage the place for that! I have 4 of the big Rubbermaid tanks in my pastures and some manure bucket size water tubs in smaller turnouts - we run a hose to them and attach a float so they stay full and fresh. Easy to slip it off and dump the tub for cleaning (except the big Rubbermaids, they are a project & don't get cleaned as often).

Jan

 

[HGFarm]

I just installed automatics on the 'new side' of the lots.....already had them in the foaling pens and the other big dry lot. Same thing, in this summer heat I was having to dump and bleach buckets constantly. The automatics are SUCH a saver on water- important here in the desert too- and are SO much easier to keep clean! Less water waste. As far as making sure the horses drink enough? I have never had that problem... and they love the cleaner water. I look at the horses when I feed and monitor them, to anticipate any problems that might occur (got one that looks a little 'sucked up'?) It sure cuts down the time on chores and dragging the hose around!

 

[Marty]

Whatchagonnado when the power goes out?

 

[LittleRibbie]

Momini, you crack me up...Im sure you are NOT a slacker !!! LOL I HAVE TO dump and wash buckets twice a day b/c I live in Fl and the water gets warm so quick plus we have lots of little bugs and mosquitos that just seem to make the water look so unappealing!

Myrna, thanks for all the info on the Nelsons waterers, they look awesome and if I do get one Im going to tell them to send you a commision check LOL!! I just asked for a catalog B/C I didnt see prices but I think they may be alittle more than I can afford. I understand what you are saying Jan...I feel the same! I cant remember what catalog I saw that had the ones that I was interrested in but I think they were only about 40/50$ each. I would need 8( 1 per stall )and I can install them by myself just running the hose behind the stalls. But if they are poorly constructed and leaky I should maybe just invest in something that will last!! Like the Richie or Nelson. I hate to keep finding horse related To Do Lists for my husband....I really would like to tackle this project solo!

Most of you seem to have them in your pastures...luckily all my big pasture buckets are able to be placed right next to water supply and each have a bucket brush handy, so for me, its not too bad...except I do hate the idea that Im dumping out so much water every morning. Its the dang stall buckets that I hate :arg! :arg!.

I think even tractor supply sells a stall type auto waterers but I dont know if they are well made and I dont know how they are to take apart and clean. I will keep you all posted and thanks for your help

Heidi

 

[Miniv]

Whatchagonnado when the power goes out?

Good point!!!

 

[LittleRibbie]

Marty!

Hey you...stop being a party pooper....I never thought of that! DAH! Well dont be so silly, I'll march all my little guys down to the closest gin mill and order us a round!!

 

[HGFarm]

Luckily our power goes out rarely- when it does, I have some large bottles I can go fill up if need be til it comes back on. I have kept my big water buckets also, just in case I ever need to use them. Living in the hotter climates yes, the algae, which stinks, and the mosquitoes show up QUICK, so it's a constant issue of dumping and bleaching buckets. I love my autowaterers!

 

[love_casper]

Our new barn hes Nelsons in each stall. LOVE EM! The minis can't reach em, so they're all still bucketed, but its a lot easier to haul several tiny buckets to the water pump than it is constantly refilling for the biggies. I'd love to get some for the minis.

At our last place, what made life like 10000 times easier was buckets in each stall but with hose extensions. We had one hose running from the faucet to the barn, and from there smaller hoses with switch valves in each stall. So I could turn on the main water source and then go fill each bucket individually, as they dropped down right into each bucket. Other than occasionally rinsing them when it got too many floaters, they were pretty easy lol! The only real problem we had was sometimes I'd forget to turn the faucet off and a valve would burst, and I'd go outside to find Charm with his face under the hose, showering and happily rinsing out his stall.

In our new mini barn, if we can't get automatics, we'll probably get some hose configuration.

 

[kdhminis]

Love Love Love our automatic outside waterers. No electricity is ran to ours - not suppose to be on this type of waterer - just install a water line below the frost line. They have a float under the top - similar to a toilet type float. In the winter they drip water to keep from freezing - and it works in the coldest of winter. I do drain it about every 2 weeks just to scrub the tank out good. We have one in our big horses pasture - and one in our mare/gelding miniature pasture. I will have to walk out and get the brand name - something like PolyTran I think.

 

[Bess Kelly]

I'd love field autos.....wow! Last TWO weeks we've had temps in upper 90's, over 100 about 1/2 the time. So, my tubs had to be refilled a minimum of 2X a day

Talk about warm? No, it was HOT if they had a smaller 6-10 gal size (only couple animals in field)...but, the 20 gal ones would have undesireable water for refreshment. What I hated was the waste -- since we were NOT getting any rain and all the pastures dying

I really wanted to "at least" dump it by the few pasture trees.

Look at it THIS WAY -- if you bought heated tubs after a couple yrs of breaking ice (I did!), then you only have to remember how wonderful they were! I'm gonna save up for some of these in my fields.

Electric out? Since I'm on a deep well, it means no showers for me -- I keep a generator!

 

[Riverdance]

I have automatic waterers in all of my paddock areas and in the barn stalls. I have had them for years and just LOVE them!! Especially in the winter. the outside ones are heated. the inside ones are blown out for the winter or until i turn the heat on in the barn.

You have to make sure they are cleaned regularly and are working properly. I have found that once in a while, the water is not flowing properly to an outside waterer, and I have to open up the top and clean out the buildup that my water in the well leaves.

If our electricity goes out for any length of time, well, there would be no way to get water to any of the horses, as our well pump would be out too.

 

[wildoak]

If the power goes out the well goes out....and we are all toast anyway lol. We do have to turn the water to the barn off once in a rare while in the winter, and I just prefill a bunch of tubs & hang buckets in the stalls.

Tractor Supply carries the Little Giant waterers, we use those in the stalls. They are pretty durable but I prefer the enameled ones as the plain steel seem to rust through at the bottom within a few years and need replacing.

Jan

 

[LittleRibbie]

Thanks everyone. I have well h2o too so if I do loose power I have no pump and would still have to get water brought here or always have some jugs on hand for emergency. Jan, I was just at tractor supply today and they have 4 in stock. I'll probablly get those tomorrow, see if I like them then check out the ones that have enamel, I bet your right as our water is brutal on our faucets anyway....rust!!

Then we'll see about pasture waterers!

Thank so much all of you...lots of good points that I hadnt thought about!