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Rolling Water Tank For Pastured Cows
Jeremy Stilson brings water to his cows using a home-built water wagon that lets his herd keep grazing instead of walking home for water.
    “Before the water wagon, we had alleyways, and the cattle had to walk quite a way to get water,” says Stilson. “Now they stay in the pasture and spread their manure there, not in an alleyway.”
    Stilson bought a used 10-ton Deere running gear for $500. He built a bed out of two 16-ft., 6 by 8-in. railroad ties topped by 1-in. oak boards.
    “I mounted four 175-gal. totes on the bed with oak 2 by 4’s around them to anchor them in place so they don’t shift,” says Stilson. “The 4 totes plumbed together act as a baffle so the weight doesn’t shift as much when I move the wagon.”
    He used converters on the tote valves to connect them with 2-in. pvc pipe. A valve at the end of the pipe connects it to the rear mounted stock tank.
    “I used 3/4-in. steel tubing to make a shelf that I welded to the back axle,” says Stilson. “I set the stock tank on it and surrounded it with treated 2 by 12’s so the cattle can’t push it around.”
    Initially Stilson filled the totes from ditches and ponds using a trash pump. However, residue collected in the tanks, and the resulting algae plugged valves.
    “Now we fill it at the farmstead and tow it to the herd,” says Stilson. “As long as we use clean water, we have no problems.”
    The only thing that limits use of the tank is freezing temperatures. Stilson usually drains the totes in December.
    “It takes a heavy frost to get the tanks to freeze, but we hang it up by January,” he says. “I just take the main valve off and the line is empty. At that point, we pull the herd back to a winter paddock with a heated waterer.”
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jeremy Stilson, 21847 Four Mile Rd., Morley, Mich. 49336 (ph 231 414-4978; stilsonfarms@gmail.com).


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2019 - Volume #43, Issue #2