Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Water Tanks

The portable tanks you water cattle with. Our local farm store sells the H&W brand. The used to be good when they soldered the bottom seam. Lately they just use caulk. That leaks badly.

Any here have a tank you like?

I've switched all but one to poly tanks. As soon as the last galvanized one starts leaking, it'll be plastic. One leaky windmill tank now has a concrete liner... A lotta guys around here are going tire tanks with concrete bottoms.

Are those the Sioux brand?

Min is 6 x 2 x 2 ft Biden tank

Those tire tanks with concrete are the best I've ever seen.

The better ones had a concrete pad that went far enough away from the trough to not wallow out from cattle watering for decades.

The one's I use now are the thick Rubbermaid troughs, and recently a traditional galvanized one that waters 2 pastures. The Rubbermaid trough I had out there developed a 3" crack in the side. WTH is that? Not sure why that happened, unless it was my white trash neighbor with a hatchet...

We use an old bulk tank from a dairy barn. It's about 3'x3'x10. Makes it a lot nicer during the summer when 100 head try to get a drink. The old 100 gallon tanks just didn't cut it anymore. Bulk tanks are pretty rugged also. Found ours on Craigslist for a few hundred dollars...

Barry is that Gaucho wire?

Yessir. 2 barb gaucho.

It's longer lasting down here in high humidity areas.

Have my new length of boundary fence put up using it too.

6 wire.

Barry, I bought seven rolls of that in March, we still need to get it up.

Richard, last Fall my dad and I each bought one of these. Fiberglass, double wall insulated tanks designed to go over a hydrant. They are expensive but well worth it IMO.


They key is selecting a tank with the right volume so that it will keep up with the herd yet still not be too big. If it's too big it won't fully recharge with 'warm' water and you will get more ice on the drink holes than need be.

We went with two 12' tanks.

Should have went with a 10 or maybe even a little 8' for the bred heifers. 60-70 head just doesn't pull enough water out of it.


But we have had zero issues with the hydrants freezing up and last winter it got down to -40F so that was a great test. I'd like to get a couple more but can't afford it!

Richard, did you ever have a tank heater from Albert City Manufacturing?

I don't know John. Do you mean the old Cowboy Tank Heaters? There is one of those around somewhere.

I think that they were printed as such - submerge, fill with cobs, light.

If I can find it John, I'll try for a picture. It's as old as I am, and just a bit less rusty.

That is interesting Sam. The ways people raise cattle different places.

This is what we've put in. They're pricey, but got a little bit of NRCS money to help out. Not much, mind you, maybe enough to pay for the concrete base.

James, do you need extra heat to keep it from freezing?

We put in a Mirrofount that was claimed to not need a heater. We put in a submersible heater, then changed it out completely.

Richard, these are supposed to be freeze proof. They better be, because they're not close to electricity for any kind of heater. Now, the freeze proof claim is based upon the cattle using them, and keeping the water flowing. One of these tanks is in a pasture that will not be used this winter, so I'm a little concerned about it. Thought about draining it, but then have been told not to, as that's what helps to keep it from freezing. I've even explored the possibility of putting in a solar powered light bulb, down underneath the tank where the water line is, hoping it would put out just a little bit of heat.

But, so far I haven't seen anything that I thought would work, so hopefully with global warming being the new norm, it won't get that cold. Typically, we have a low temp in most winters down around zero. Coldest I ever saw here was -22. If it gets that cold, there might be a problem. Time will tell.

You might blow the line out with compressed air James.

There isn't much room down there to work with, so I'm doubting that I would be able to do that. The problem is........these tanks are hooked directly to the water line that runs across the fields from the meter out on the highway to my house. If, for some reason, a fitting were to freeze and burst, and I couldn't shut the water off below the break, then I'd have to shut it off at the meter, and I'd be out of water. I "think" and I use that word loosely, that it's unlikely that would happen, but if it were to get really cold and stay that way for a week, I'm going to be concerned. On the other hand, there may not be a thing to worry about.....providing I put it in right.

Good luck with it at any rate. You could pile on some sort of insulating cover.

It looks like a Richie made in Conrad, Iowa?

I've thought about that cover, and am still kicking around the idea. Yes, it's a Richie........good tanks too.

John, this is the old Cowboy heater. It is on it's side. No show place this.

Not what first asked about, one of the waterers.

We have a bunch of the Mirafount's version of those freeze proof waterers. Our "heat" tubes are usually 6-8' deep, but when it gets below -10 for a few days in a row. The slobber can build up and cause the valve to freeze at the top. Usually dumping a 5 gallon bucket of hot water in will thaw them in a few minutes.


The last 4 or five we've installed all have curb stop with a drain back hole. So we can shut them off and drain them out when not in use.

https://miraco.com/accessories/underground-shut-off-kit/

Good evening Ben, good to read your posts.

I bought one of the H&W brand tanks and about a year and the seam started leaking. That was about 4 years ago. Still using the same tank but I drained it and sprayed flex seal on both sides. Hasn't leaked a drop since.

My "tank" is a nonworking 15 cu. ft. chest freezer with a hole cut and lined in the middle of the lid. It's about 200? gallons.

This is for 4 horses. Not what you folks are handling.

I have two of this same model. Mine are near power so there is a 250 watt heat puck in the basin and heat tape on a portion of the 1" supply line. We use a 8" piece of Sonotube about 8' deep under the tank and in ten years it has not frozen. These each will water about 60 to 80 cattle but sometimes there is a line. Where I live these will freeze shut if there is no heat puck in the middle of the basin if it gets down below zero.

My only complaint with them is that there is very little room under the tank if you need to replace anything.

Way back when I was a young cowboy riding pens in a feed lot, they had heated waterers, but IIRC they were stainless steel.

They would freeze up, too.

On those days they started freezing, we would have to go get them cleaned out and running again.

T'wern't too much fun, given the weather on the days that could freeze heated waterers.

Wayne, what that lacks in portability, it makes up for in capacity.

That and it is spring feed, does not freeze up.

The crick our cows drink from is all plowed up muddy.

Roundoak must be up in that driftless country. It is a special place....

Someday when I have cattle I will need to figure out the water in winter problem. Thanks for the tips.

I have a small creek that has water most of the year, although it's not as clear as the water is in Roundoak's creek. I used to use it for watering the cattle most of the time. After we run the county water line through the farm, I put the Richie waterers in. The cows still have access to most of the creek, but they seem to prefer the cleaner water out of the Richie's. Cows play heck on creek banks and crossings, and I don't really care for that.

Another tank in a different pasture.

You need more cows Wayne, that grass it too tall.

One of the creeks our cows drink from.