Things wrong with Water Troughs

[loggie374]

Hi there!

I am from New Zealand and am currently doing a project as part of studying engineering. I was wondering what problems farmers currently have with water troughs and water quantity/quality when using them for dairy cattle, all things are helpful.

Thanks for your time, have a great day!

 

[som farmer]

never have enough 400 gallon ones, so move some field to field, those are regulary emptied, all down to how many cows, and water pressure, our borehole runs at 6bar, so theoretically we could have smaller troughs. Pain in the butt, to clean those fixed in place.

 

[Ormond]

In an ideal world all water troughs indoors for cattle should be stainless steel. Galvanised steel just rots eventually and not after a huge amount of years. Service boxes just aren't strong enough these days especially from a major manufacturer from England. All welded in are far better than bolt in service boxes. Also In doors ideally they should be quick tip troughs to clean and empty in a few seconds. ....also I never want to see a plastic retainer nut on the ball cock ever again... they want to be brass as cattle seem to want to spend hours trying to damage them anyway they can. I agree outside they want to be large as possible especially after a hot summer we had a couple of years ago....200 cows in a field drink a lot of water in the heat. I've found the large plastic round water troughs rubbish. Looking at large concrete ones .

 

[jg123]

Any exposed water pipe/fitting or 90 degree that is exposed so that cattle can rub them. Tip over in sheds with straw choppers or if they can be mucked in here and the smaller the better as long as they have a fast water supply so they can be tipped daily without excessive water in the shed. Beef cattle tho

Would a big trough with only and small opening in the top be useful to stop evaporation in places such as Australia with future water shortages? Prob not in NZ

 

[Dry Rot]

Freezing would be a concern for some.

 

[Scholsey]

Do away with ballcocks if you can, can only do it if tanks on same level, works really well with tip tanks, got 9 tanks in a dairy shed with 1 ballcock, works well.

 

[vantage]

I’ve recently replaced two large tip over indoor troughs with two 14’ long narrow concrete troughs from Ireland. So far very impressed. Diaphragm ball valve as standard, in centre of trough , well protected by a concrete cover, 3” rubber bung on a chain in the centre to empty rapidly, trough is made sloped to the centre so all water runs out. All I do to clean them is swish a dairy brush around the trough as it drains. The troughs are also raised on concrete legs so should you want , auto scraper can pass beneath.

 

[manhill]

Large drain plug at low sump for flushing dirt out.

 

[buffalo_soldier]

Been switching to tip overs for a few years now. Longevity seems to be an issue with them, so will be investigating sump plugged ones next.

Service boxes seem to be made of paper nowadays.

Something revolutionary in the float valve department would be nice. One that doesn't involve plastic.

 

[som farmer]

as a boy, we used to outwinter a lot of cattle, tractor, no cab, trailor, little bales, throw of, straw bale, to put around the trough pipe, match, thawed out, couldn't do that today, plastic would melt.

 

[bumkin]

most of the design flaws have been mentioned ,i prefer concrete troughs as they dont get bent or pushed about as vantage said the large drain holes in the bottom is a good idea ours have a 3/4 bsp plug about an inh and a half up the side they block with bits of straw and we still have to bail out the bottom also we put metal flanges on the ball valves replacing the crap plastik ones also feet on the bottom would be a good idea so they can be moved with a fork lift

 

[bumkin]

Been switching to tip overs for a few years now. Longevity seems to be an issue with them, so will be investigating sump plugged ones next.

Service boxes seem to be made of paper nowadays.

Something revolutionary in the float valve department would be nice. One that doesn't involve plastic.

we replace the flanges as soon as we get them with brass ones from screwfix

 

[buffalo_soldier]

we replace the flanges as soon as we get them with brass ones from screwfix

Got a few on order at the moment, so will bear that in mind when they arrive.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Concrete troughs with flat bottoms, so hard to clean the last bits of algae out with a siphon, they need to mould a slight sump into them leading towards a drain bung.
Also, the little lugs for attaching the lifting chains are often wonky enough that the chains won't connect so need to be moved on forks, no real need to recess those.

The main problem is that most dairy water systems rely too much on trough capacity, and not enough on flowrate; which means there is too much water sitting around collecting bird shite and growing algae.
(Hence I'd put a short bit of Novaflo under the floats and let the cows empty them when they finished each paddock, so you fill them with fresh water when putting up fences next time)

 

[Homesy]

Never big enough, never enough flow but the biggest PIA is the drain plug is too small and never drains the trough completely. Tip troughs are fine for buildings bit the ones in pastures never empty completely so you have get in with a bucket.

 

[som farmer]

anyone still put fish in tanks ? used to, but not for years.

 

[Fergieman]

we replace the flanges as soon as we get them with brass ones from screwfix

Can you buy the brass nuts as a standalone item? I used to buy all my ballcocks from screwfix with the brass nuts but they seem to have stopped supplying them now. Now get them from www.bes.co.uk

 

[Moorlands]

Can you buy the brass nuts as a standalone item? I used to buy all my ballcocks from screwfix with the brass nuts but they seem to have stopped supplying them now. Now get them from www.bes.co.uk

Flomasta BSP Female Flanged Backnuts 1/2" x 2 Pack - Screwfix

Order online at Screwfix.com. Female BSP brass flanged backnut. FREE next day delivery available, free collection in 1 minute.

www.screwfix.com

They do 3/4 as well - 32082

 

[Agrifool]

Stainless steel better than concrete, concrete gets pitted over time and leaves crevices for bacteria to grow. how about a stainless steel one with legs concreted into a concrete base for out in the field, quick emptying bung rather than a tip over to cut down on moving parts, comes with own brush, and a proper place to stow the brush that is cow proof.
Service box needs to be removed without tools so you can regularly brush underneath it. Teemore make a nice cover that doesn't need tools.

 

[Beef farmer]

Soon as it dries up, we will visit all paddocks and suck out 50 troughs with the tanker. Have an adapter to get it down to a 50mm suction hose. So just clean them that way.