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I've always had a shortage of good water for the cattle on this place. So, I got with the NCRS office, and signed up for a farm program that is designed for cattle operations, and was accepted. They don't pay much, but every little bit helps as these are pretty expensive to put in.


These are the Ritchie brand, and hopefully they'll be freeze proof as advertised. We did all the work ourselves, rented a little excavator to dig into the existing waterline, did the plumbing, and then put down the rock. Each water station has 20 tons of rock, and everything I did was to their specifications.

I have water now, and although it's not "free" as it would have been from a pond, or stream, it's definitely better for the cows.

That's nice!

How many watering stations?

I put in 2, and will probably add a third one later on, in order to rotate pastures. That's the whole purpose, is to be able to rotate my pastures every few weeks.

Should work well.

I'd love to put in a trough system like that.

Afraid I'd have to put in a slab for the trough though, as the sand tends to swallow up loose rock pads with time and rain...

No sand here, but you have to put down lots of rock in order to avoid the mud. I put down the fabric, then 2 inches of packed rock, then a 4 inch concrete pad, then 6 inches of rock around the concrete, extending out 10 feet from the waterer. I don't how well it work in your country, but that fabric that you put down, is supposed to keep the rock from sinking. You might want to check it out.

I'll do that... Thanks.

Just put $4k worth of washed river rock on the road from the front gate to the house. Again...

Road has an excellent base, but it still tends to absorb the rock. Maybe that will slow down this time.

I don't know who they got to pay for it, but an acquaintance installed 4 0r 5 stations
over a 200 acre neglected farm. In the past cows went in the creek, but there haven't been
any there in 20 years.

I'm sure we (taxpayers) paid.
They installed a big spring fed cement cistern, pumps,the watering system and buried thousands and thousands of feet of pipe.

On leased land,

To pasture a couple dozen beef!

I've had rancher friends participate in programs like this, and got feedback from them.

The cost is mostly on the rancher. In every case I've been told about. The govt program might kick in some mostly on materials... But it's the rancher that foots the bill for installation and maintenance from then on. And the rancher has to jump through the hoops of all the red tape, regulations and requirements.

Probably why I never participated in such. The regulations to be adhered to can be for years.

I don't mind letting the cat out of the bag, each water station probably cost me somewhere between $1500-2000. I don't know exactly how much, because I haven't sat down and figured everything up yet, and USDA will pay me a grand total of $195 per waterer. That's to help keep the creek that I was using for water......when it had water in it......clean and keep the water downstream from being polluted.

Personally, I don't care to have to fool with USDA and all the paperwork, but this is how I look at it........I have paid taxes all my life, and watched it spent, NO...pizzed away, on things that mostly benefit some SOB, more likely than not, Black, who never worked a day in their life, so therefore has never contributed a dime to this country.

So, after thinking about that, I decided to put in for every program that I think would benefit me. I do not in least, feel guilty about it either.

The trick to these waterers is to keep the water level adjusted so the floating ball is below the plastic housing so it doesn't freeze fast. We've had good luck with them for about ten years. We always keep a spare fill valve on hand, they could be a little more rugged. Barry

I installed two through a USDA program on my place. I did all the work and would have to look back to see how much I ended up in the project for but the .gov $ wasn't that much.

Mine are concrete troughs, plumbed from the bottom. I didn't plumb mine with city or well water, I plumbed a line coming in from a small gas powered pump which pumps water from my pond. No float or water level adjustment, I have to pump it....that's the downside. ...but I'm running a lot more goats than cattle (and horses) so it can go several days no problem....they are BIG troughs. The inspector wasn't real happy that I didn't plumb it for running water but according to the specs it wasn't required. Some people have installed them where they can siphon water from a pond but that wouldn't work in the location I installed them. I've been very happy with the setup.

I had to level the ground, put four flat solid concrete block in the corners and level it. Did the heavy duty weed barrier and gravel base around it. I didn't have to use any concrete pad. I installed them where a cross fence splits them so it works for two different lots.

Canal company approached me this spring....

they were running a year round stock line past my NW gate

Said they would connect me for $150 plus the frost free hydrant

So I supplied the hydrant and for a total of $250 I now have year round culinary water 1/2 mile from house

what a deal !

Do they ding you with a monthly service fee now?