Rainwater for cattle drinking

Pluto

Member

Location

Hampshire

• Dec 11, 2018

• #1

Evening folks,

Having nearly fainted after getting a quote to lay a water main to a new shed, am thinking about rainwater harvesting from the roof. But I don't want to kill the sucklers in the process if possible!
Has anyone got experience of this, and are there any drawbacks?

 

harperfarmer

Member

• Dec 11, 2018

• #2

Pluto said:

Evening folks,

Having nearly fainted after getting a quote to lay a water main to a new shed, am thinking about rainwater harvesting from the roof. But I don't want to kill the sucklers in the process if possible!
Has anyone got experience of this, and are there any drawbacks?

Click to expand...

A prolonged dry spell!?

 

Samcowman

Member

Mixed Farmer

Location

Cornwall

• Dec 11, 2018

• #3

We do it and it works fine but you do need a backup plan for when it’s dry. We have a pump in a river as our backup. Then mains for when the river is too low.

 

B

betweenthelines

Member

Location

southwest

• Dec 11, 2018

• #4

No problem unless you've got a roof of lead tiles!

 

Northeastfarmer

Member

Location

Cleveland

• Dec 11, 2018

• #5

I nearly fainted when I got the bill for this years water that drought has nearly skinted me

 

marco

Member

Location

tipperary, ireland

• Dec 11, 2018

• #6

Sink a well?

 

Whitepeak

Member

Livestock Farmer

Location

Buxton, Derbyshire

• Dec 11, 2018

• #7

We've rigged up the majority of our cows onto rain water for this winter. Trouble is they are drinking it faster than it's raining
So my advice is get a bigger tank than you think you need.
Oh and if you get quotes off some of these rainwater harvesting specialists, they will insist you have big fancy filtration systems.

 

C

cows r us

Member

BASE UK Member

Location

Buckinghamshire

• Dec 11, 2018

• #8

We feed rain water back too our cows. How many animals are you looking to water from this? You will be surprised at how big the tank will have to be. You will also need the mains as a back up for when water runs out in a dry spell.
We filter ours into the main tanks (this takes out the large things like leafs, moss, dead pigeons), it is then pumped back to the troughs at mains pressure and is put through a fine filter and a UV light to kill bacteria ect.
You may be able to get some EU funding for it, but be quick as apparently it's not going to be there for long.

 

M

mo!

Member

Mixed Farmer

Location

York

• Dec 11, 2018

• #9

We looked at this year's ago. A borehole was a lot cheaper.

 

Pluto

Member

Location

Hampshire

• Dec 11, 2018

• #10

Thanks for the comments. I am planning to top up with a bowser if necessary. They are still outside at the moment in a remote field with no water, and the bowser is lasting about 2 weeks, but obviously they will drink more when inside. There are only 16 in the bunch at the moment. According to my calculations 660ms roof should produce approximately 3,000 gallons of water for every 25mm of rain, which hopefully will keep them going through the winter.

 

Ballygreenan

Member

Location

Tyrone NI

• Dec 12, 2018

• #11

You will need to vaccinate for salmonella, alternatively shoot every bird within a 10 mile radius!

 

Robert K

Member

Arable Farmer

Location

Essex

• Dec 12, 2018

• #12

Ballygreenan said:

You will need to vaccinate for salmonella, alternatively shoot every bird within a 10 mile radius!

Click to expand...

Big job though[emoji15]

 

Kiwi Pete

Member

Livestock Farmer

Location

Owaka, New Zealand

• Dec 12, 2018

• #13

We have about 18,000 litres of storage, just feeding them silage their thirst isn't excessive and that will last a week to ten days without rainfall.
540m2 of roof and upto 120 small cattle/yearlings, for that "week to ten days" - which largely depends on temperature

 

Matt

Member

Location

herefordshire, uk

• Dec 12, 2018

• #14

mo! said:

We looked at this year's ago. A borehole was a lot cheaper.

Click to expand...

if it successful at locating water

 

Crofter64

Member

Livestock Farmer

Location

Quebec, Canada

• Dec 13, 2018

• #15

Our animals prefer rainwater to well water and drink it all summer. I figure if they can drink from manure puddles, they can drink from my water harvesting tank(1000 gallons).I top it up with well water when it gets low. It is connected to a water trough with a float. I’m thinking of getting another tank on the other side of the barn next year and hooking it up to a jet pump so I don’t have to rely on gravity. My only limitation is that I have to drain my tank , which is usually brimming, at the beginning of November when we start having serious frosts, and only resume at the end of April/ beginning of May.

 

brigadoon

Member

Location

Galloway

• Dec 13, 2018

• #16

Pluto said:

Evening folks,

Having nearly fainted after getting a quote to lay a water main to a new shed, am thinking about rainwater harvesting from the roof. But I don't want to kill the sucklers in the process if possible!
Has anyone got experience of this, and are there any drawbacks?

Click to expand...

Yes - design your system to exclude air & light from your storage so as to deter algal growth in the storage tanks.

Use some chlorine tablets on a regular basis to sterilise the system and flush it by dropping out the header tanks when you are expecting rainfall to refill them promptly.

Basically take normal precautions to keep the system clean

 

Hfd Cattle

Member

Mixed Farmer

Location

Hereford

• Dec 14, 2018

• #17

Matt said:

if it successful at locating water

Click to expand...

Borehole every time for me we have sunk 2 for the same reason that it was too expensive to get mains in and the well was unreliable. If your not certain where the water is then get a water diviner in. We did it only cost £250 but he knew where the water was. If the water is only for livestock then you won't need all the expense of filtration etc and you will find a borehole worth every penny. You will soon get fed up of lack of rain etc to fill water tanks up.

 

Matt

Member

Location

herefordshire, uk

• Dec 14, 2018

• #18

Hfd Cattle said:

Borehole every time for me we have sunk 2 for the same reason that it was too expensive to get mains in and the well was unreliable. If your not certain where the water is then get a water diviner in. We did it only cost £250 but he knew where the water was. If the water is only for livestock then you won't need all the expense of filtration etc and you will find a borehole worth every penny. You will soon get fed up of lack of rain etc to fill water tanks up.

Click to expand...

what area are you in if you dont mind me asking

 

Hfd Cattle

Member

Mixed Farmer

Location

Hereford

• Dec 14, 2018

• #19

Herefordshire

 

S

som farmer

Member

Livestock Farmer

Location

somerset

• Dec 14, 2018

• #20

with starlings on the maize racks and roofs, I can't think of anything more dangerous than letting cows drink it. you must have a hell of a lot of filters, and uv's.
our bore hole keeps us going with 200 dairy +followers, and it meets all legal requirements for human consumption, pay back time ? well under the year, best return of capitol we have ever