Rain water harvesting

[biggles]

Bit of a general question but im after anybodys tips on this. currently costs about £1500 for drinking water in cattle sheds and yard. Last week I fitted a large concrete trough to the down spout on a shed and it fills up quite well. (cattle also seem to favour it to mains trough?) obviously this will only work when its raining and has little reserve. Buildings are mostly small and scattered which complicates connecting them etc. just wondered what everyone else is doing. cheers

 

[S J H]

I put in an underground tank that someone gave me, it's about 30,000 litres. I haven't sorted the pump out yet to bring the water to a header tank, but should have it done in the next few weeks.

 

[permapen]

Have you considered creating leaky ponds? You could direct rainwater from around your field to there and it will last longer for your cattle. Depends on your soil type, catchment area etc, but I can point you at info if it's of interest.

Edit: Oops, only half the thought expressed: the cows don't drink directly from the pond but from a filtered run-off into a drinking vessel. Depends on land layout, slope etc.

 

[permapen]

FYI, all the examples I've seen of rainwater harvesting from roofs include a 'first flush' diversion to get rid of accumulations after dry spells. May or may not be a consideration for your area....

 

[Pond digger]

Is there no health risk to stock? Bird muck contamination, for instance ?

 

[fastfish]

Saving 100s per month here rain harvesting to service about 220 cattle
Various tanks bought to feed different sheds no maize or rolled corn so starlings not a problem but could be bloody water boards have got a monopoly

 

[Kidds]

Is there no health risk to stock? Bird muck contamination, for instance ?

This is often asked but why would it be worse than eating grass that birds may or may not have crapped on?
A lot of people in Oz only have rainwater collection for their drinking water, the cattle have to make do with the dam.

 

[biggles]

cheers lads some food for thought. ground all flat so the pond idea not really an option. I like the idea of collecting more of the roof water but we are surrounded by trees and the gutters do get full with them how would I stop these getting into the tank? or is it just a case of having the outlet higher up and cleaning sediment out regularly.

 

[permapen]

I know there's a filter that they fit onto the downpipe - but if you YouTube 'rainwater harvesting off grid' you'll have many happy hours of ideas!

 

[RushesToo]

The only problem I see with storing water is that bird sh!t bugs may stay alive longer as they don't get dried out and they don't get UV exposure if stored.It needs more reading so you can judge the risk to stock and decide if it is worth doing.

 

[MickMoor]

We put a small underground tank to collect rainwater from all down pipes, with mesh filter and overflow, and submersible pump with float switch and pressure switch to fill a big tank. A ball valve on the inlet to the big tank obstructs the flow and the pump senses this and switches off. This customer got a grant for it as well.

 

[wasted years]

I harvested rainwater before installing a borehole, if you can drill for water it is much easier then pintling pipes, filters etc imo.

 

[biggles]

when using a pumped system how does the cost of electricity stack up against the cost of mains water?

 

[wasted years]

The cost of electric for a borehole is so small I haven't been able to see the diference on my bills.

 

[MickMoor]

Pumps ae

I harvested rainwater before installing a borehole, if you can drill for water it is much easier then pintling pipes, filters etc imo.

This is what we find as well! (Pardon the pun!) Water pumps, at least on a farm scale, are not particularly power hungry.

 

[fastfish]

Just be careful with the metal content in borehole water the maintenance of pump and filters can be expensive