Moveable water tank for sloping paddocks

[Dan Powell]

Next year I'm putting some fairly sloping fields into cattle grazing for 3 years. I have some decent plastic tanks but want to graze rotationally so will need to be moving the tanks daily.

Short of digging a flat place out every time any suggestions on making water tanks for hills work?

 

[GTB]

Could you not place one trough on a level piece in the center of every field or at strategic places within a field and include the trough area in each paddock?

 

[Nearly]

The tipping water troughs would sit level across a slope if mounted on a low chassis.

 

[Dan Powell]

Could you not place one trough on a level piece in the center of every field or at strategic places within a field and include the trough area in each paddock?

It's an option but paddock size will vary and prefer to use a different place each time to avoid poaching if possible. All the pipework will be temporary and fields will go back to arable after 3-4 years so don't want anything too permanent.

 

[Dan Powell]

The tipping water troughs would sit level across a slope if mounted on a low chassis.

View attachment 359574

£££££££ !? Nice idea though. Might be able to cobble something up in the workshop with jacks, wheels and a towbar for the quad. Looking for something tried and tested to copy ideally.

 

[GTB]

In that case you might be better off putting a big trough onto some kind of chassis (old trailer/muck spreader chassis) so that it can be moved along by tractor. You could probably find somewhere reasonably level in every paddock to park it???

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

Could you not use an old slurry tanker with a water trough on the back, move it with the tractor every day

 

[Dan Powell]

@The Ruminant have you seen anything that could work on your travels?

 

[Dan Powell]

Hoping to keep tractors off when wet as we'll be direct drilling arable crops afterwards but I quite like the slurry tank idea.

 

[GTB]

But you dont need the tank at all. All you need is a moveable trough and a blue pipe ti fill it. A trough on a chassis would be much lighter on the ground. You could even make one light enough to move with a quad when it's empty.

 

[The Ruminant]

How many cattle do you want to drink from it? I've got a movable trough (its a smallish one, 4' long, say 48 gallons at a guess) and its on a blue umbilical pipe so I move it around. If its sloping I make sure the ball cock is at the lower end of the trough (ie at 90 degrees to the contour lines and on the downhill side), that way it still cuts off the water before it flows over the edge. The only risk I see is the ballcock scraping on the side of the housing box due to the angle, and not shutting off the water properly.

If the troughs are longer you could align them parallel to the contour lines and again with the ball of the ballcock on the downhill side (and the inlet pipe on the uphill side). You could then just adjust the ballcock arm until it doesn't flow over (reason for this solution is the trough may hold more water this way round)

Anything's possible if you believe it's possible

 

[Dan Powell]

There will be about 75-100 400kg stores in this bunch. I have a couple of plastic troughs the right size and they have worked fine on fairly flat fields for the last few years but next year the gradients get quite steep so just putting the ball valve on the downhill side may not be enough...

 

[GTB]

How big are the fields? Could you not graze a whole field for a few days then move rather than move daily?

 

[Kevtherev]

Put the troughs bolted onto railway sleepers and drag them around to new place

 

[Nearly]

£££££££ !? Nice idea though. Might be able to cobble something up in the workshop with jacks, wheels and a towbar for the quad. Looking for something tried and tested to copy ideally.

I wasn't suggesting buying the actual ££ troughs but making a swinging trough to go onto a low chassis, parked in the best area of the field.

 

[Tim May]

this is what I use to do this. it works well I have 200 head using it at the moment, steel plate bolted to the bottom of the tyre with sealant in between, that worked ok, but the last one I've must some concrete in the bottom to get a better seal. I also welded two bits of bar on the bottom of the plate and that helps it slide better and go over electric fences.

 

[llamedos]

Bowser with a trough/drinker attached, the type with adjustable stabilising legs at the tap end.

 

[simmy_bull]

I wasn't suggesting buying the actual ££ troughs but making a swinging trough to go onto a low chassis, parked in the best area of the field.

I think this idea has a lot of merit for sloping field where you want to keep resiting it as it will self level and suit different slopes as long as you get it across the slop like @Nearly said. Could you run some surface pipes round the hedge back etc to feed this trough and then you could gather them up after the ley is finished.

 

[Matt]

I'm thinking on the same, but for cows and calves, wondered about putting the small water bowls on to a calf creep. A bowl in each corner of the creep on outside, with one connection point to a supply pipe. Could move with a quad then. As like the op don't want to be trundling about with loadall

 

[Nearly]

@early riser has pics of one