Water #1
Building the dock to install my self-designed livestock watering system.
We’re back again with another blog. This time and next I want to talk about keeping the livestock watered.
When a cow is producing milk, she will drink an average of 25-30 gallons of water per day in the East Texas summer heat. We happen to have a 30 acre spring-fed lake (man-made in the mid-60’s) constituting a lot of water apparently available. Conservation principles tell us that we need to keep our livestock out of riparian zones - buffers around creek and lake edges. These areas are ecologically important and should be preserved. We also have an area water system, but it is not for agricultural use. So, where and how do the animals get water?
Texas allows us to draw water from the lake to water livestock. Water for irrigation would require a permit from the state. So we don’t irrigate, we just water the animals. OK, then what? Regeneration and care for the system as a whole directed us to restrict the animals away from riparian areas, so how can we get the water from the lake to the herd?
Some operations load water into mobile tanks on trucks or trailers to ferry water to their animals. Others use pipelines to deliver water to fixed troughs. We have chosen the pipeline alternative. This is a bit more costly and not as flexible as the mobile tank solution, but it is a lower labor alternative. (Our priorities, you may recall, included very low labor input.)
Our MIRG system is not yet as sophisticated as it will become. We have 25 acres with permanent fencing divided into 10 paddocks, also permanently fenced. We are moving toward the Elizondo-style non-selective grazing management system.
And?…
Each of our paddocks has its own 300 gallon trough set on crushed asphalt. In the event of a system fault, we have 3,000 gallons of water available throughout the system. A 1,000 gallon buffer tank is planned for the system, but has not been added, yet.
Next time, I will address the design details and some of the costs of the water system. I will also address both positive and negative aspects of our design choices.
Cheers!
Robin Hood