LAKE ALMA, Sask. – A variety of water sources on his ranch in southern Saskatchewan prompted Wayne Hagen to find a unique way to build a mobile water system.
The ranch’s water comes from wells, springs and dugouts, but rather than force the cows and calves to walk to those water sources, Hagen prefers to have his cattle drink clean water from a trough.
“The cattle do so much better if they don’t have to go into the dugout and drink muddy water,” said Hagen.
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He uses several water sources throughout the year, so he felt he needed a mobile watering system.
“I had some air seeder tanks here and through the environmental farm plan there were grants available for remote watering systems and solar watering systems.”
He thought about how to mount troughs on the carts and turn the storage tank into a water holding tank.
“That would save the cost of building a new trailer and purchasing a big poly tank.”
Hagen built two units. He had old Friggstad and Prasco carts he was no longer using. Each cart, when modified for water, can hold more than 1,000 gallons.
The air manifold systems, the meters and the fans were removed from both tanks. Then he had bare tanks to work with.
“The slide gate openings on the bottom, I made adapters for them so I could put the hose fittings on the bottom. Then you have to seal the openings on the bottom with silicone or rubber,” he said.
“The Prasco had a gasket, so I used the existing gasket, made a flat plate, put a bulkhead in, siliconed the gasket and bolted it back in. The Friggstad one was a slide gate. I made a new gate, drilled the holes, slid the gate in and sealed everything up.”
On the Friggstad unit, two hoses exit the plate at the bottom of the tank, where the metering system used to be.
“One goes to the calf water trough and one goes to the cow trough. They both have a Gallagher float valve. It’s a high capacity gravity feed valve that with the tank full, puts out about 15 to 20 gallons per minute.”
Both troughs are 50 gallons. The calf watering trough is on the side, mounted a bit lower so the calves can access it easier. Hagen says the cows can crowd out the calves and monopolize the trough. This way, the calves have access to their own water.
“There’s an adjustable creep bar where the calves can get under it. It can be moved up and down, to restrict cows from climbing under, but the calves can easily walk under and get their water. The cows can only access the back trough.”
With the Prasco tank, Hagen only fills one side with water.
“We’ve got a calf creep feeder on the back. The fertilizer tank, which is the smaller side, we can fill with oats. There’s a little hopper and deck for calves to feed off. We put a creep panel around the back side for the calves,” he said.
“We can hang a brush oiler on the side and put salt blocks on the hitch, to make it a one-stop station for the cattle.”
The mobile tanks are generally used in the middle of pastures, away from electricity. Hagen uses solar panels, wind chargers, or both, to power the water pumps used to fill the tanks.
He said each system has pumps and generators matched to the size of the herd using the system, plus the amount of lift required from the dugout or well. Depending on the size of the pump and how much water per day is required, the pumps can be on a 12 volt or 24 volt system.
“The systems can also include voltage regulators that shut solar systems down once the batteries are fully charged, to prevent the batteries from boiling dry. If the batteries get drained below a certain point, they can also have low voltage disconnects built into them, to shut the pump off until the batteries are recharged to an acceptable level.
“The wind and solar combination gives you a little more peace of mind that your batteries are going to be fully charged in cloudy weather.”
Hagen can use a tractor or his three-quarter ton, four-wheel drive truck to move the watering stations around.
The portable tanks work well from spring to fall, but they lack heaters, so Hagen can’t use them during winter.
Hagen sells kits for the Prasco and Friggstad tanks. One trough, the hardware and a heavy-duty jack for the hitch is around $800. He said used air seeder carts can be found for around $500.
For more information, contact Hagen at 306-447-4721.
