livestock water heaters

[DennisArrow]

We use these with our goats:

Heated 16-Gallon Tub - Heated Bowls

Yes, a bit pricey but well worth it. 16 gal, 250 watt, auto shut off, and tip over........

The shut off is 42 degrees which is perfect. Goats use to much energy drinking cold water and then their bodies heating it up. Kills weight gain

We have a 20 amp circuit down at the barn so my wife has to be careful as to what she uses. When it isnt COLD she unplugs them. Cold meaning low to mid 20's........

Anyway, works for us, we use 3 of them.........Dennis

 

[Duffster]

hello i use beat juice after boiling the beat the juice remaines i mix with water and water doesnt freeze as easy .naturaly i eat the beats and chickens love the juice.

Good idea!

 

[windy acers]

My electric from last season on 75 gal tank with heater in bottom was dec 08-23.91 jan 09-24.82 feb-18.70 mar-09 9.42 . this is for heater only in ohio for 7 cows. I did not check the kwh.

 

[Soundguy]

can you see a big difference in you electricity bill by using these heaters?

It's not a 1500w heater like the ones you buy for your bathroom.. it just keeps the water around it just above freezing to prevent an ice over that will turn animals away.

I also install a ground rod at my tanks, and run a ground strap into the water just incase of electrical fault, as it will hit the strap not the animal, and then pop the breaker/fuse.. etc.

this can also prevent ground loops that may cause tingle.. cows usually ignore it.. but horses won't drink out of a waterer that tingles their nose/lips..

soundguy

 

[AKwelder]

we just had a 20 below cold snap, ended on thanksgiving. I have my horses at the inlaws, and the electric bill could be a sore topic.

I have a 160 gallon water tank in a wooden box and 4 inches of styrofoam on all sides. I have a 4 inch thick lid for 3/4 of the top, and run a thermostat controlled 1000 watt heater.

At zero the tank will take 3 days to crust over with ice

good luck

 

[chrisdvorak]

I think i will get a 16 gallon heated tank at TSC for the pasture and maybe get two smaller ones to go in both stalls and see how it goes

 

[QRTRHRS]

I think i will get a 16 gallon heated tank at TSC for the pasture and maybe get two smaller ones to go in both stalls and see how it goes

If you intend to hang the smaller ones on the wall, I would stabilize them with some kind of bucket holder.

For horses, I like to hang the bucket on a hook with an adjustable holder. The holder is a flat metal adjustable band that goes through a short piece of pipe welded to a flange. The flange is secured to the wall. When you pick up the bucket to clean it, the holder simply drops to the wall allowing me to dump any dirty water to another container.

The thing with horses is that you need to keep excess power cord to a limit and also cover the cord as much as possible. I don't know if cows get bored or not?