Greetings,

I am working on a stream restoration project for one of our clients here in North Carolina. A number of streams that supply water to the client's drinking water reservoir, run through cow pastures. As a result, the stream banks are highly degraded and most of the riparian vegetation has been either removed by the landowner or grazed by cattle.

I am proposing to the client that my firm will work with the ranchers to fence off their creeks and restore the streams and riparian zones. However, the only way we can accomplish this task is to provide alternative livestock watering devices up slope of the streams.

Anyone have any information, companies, or know of sites on the Internet that provides information and prices for various types of livestock watering devices? Anyone have experience using various types?

Thanks,

James Henderson
isoetes@earthlink.net



Thanks to the power of the internet your request for info has reached the southern interior of British Columbia. Since much of my experience may be too localized to be of help I'll be brief. I work for the provincial government, Ministry of Environment, as an agricultural impact officer and have been involved in several alternative livestock waterering projects. One of our goals has been to demonstrate that providing livestock with well placed clean water supplies will cause them to choose the waterer over the watercourse, thus reducing and in some cases eliminating the need to fence. Site specific details are really necessary to provide you with good info. Waterers should be chosen for the needs of the herd and the farmer. Herd size, availablity of power and distance to source, timing of use (is a heater required?), etc. We've used several types of waterers, a Ritchie #5 (Ritchie Smith is likely available in the US - I would guess you could find a web site) was converted from an electric heater to propane as electrical power was too far away. We've also used an in- ground waterer that uses no power and circulates water below the frost line. This was devised by a Hutterite community that based their design on a waterer that I believe originated in the US mid west. Both these require a pressurized water source. If this isn't available then there are other choices. We have stayed away from waterers that have the balls in them as they have a tendency to freeze up. Costs have ranged from approx. $1200 - $1800 Cdn (that must be about $700 US!) for the waterer and then there's pipe and fittings. I could go on but it would take too long.

Barb John
British Columbia, CA




This will be is a little vague, but in Texas and other arid areas, they use windmills to pump up groundwater and fill a basin - I think they are usually polyethylene (UV resistant) and high enough so that the water trough will not get contaminated. There must be some sort of float valve, but I have no direct knowledge.

Joel V. Gagliardi, Ph.D.
Ph. 301-504-9214 x332; FAX 301-504-8370
USDA / ARS / Soil Microbial Systems Lab
Bldg. 001 Room 140 BARC-West
10300 Baltimore Avenue
Beltsville, MD 20705-2350




What is the topography like? We have installed several water troughs for cattle that use drain tile on a slope to fill a large concrete basin with ground water. The only cost associated with them are the initial purchase of the basin, drain tile and pipe as well as the labor. You do need to have an area with a spring or other source of groundwater relatively close to the surface that is a higher elevation than the basin. I don't know if it would be a factor in NC, but since the groundwater is at a relatively stable temperature throughout the year and it moves continuously through the basin, there is no freezing during the winter.

Jim Bennett



There are alternatives to fencing off riparian areas. Bob Budds at the Nature Conservancy ranch in Wyoming (Red Canyon Ranch) has managed to restore riparian areas while increasing stocking rates of cattle and not fencing riparian areas at all. You might look at their work before embarking on a fencing program. There system takes some time to get results but if you have landowners who are willing to work together it can be a win win situation.

The crux of the program is retraining the cows to utilize more of the range and culling out those animals who don't learn to graze the whole pasture (the bottom feeders that stay in the riparian areas no matter what).

Jessica Pettee
Fish & Wildlife Dept.
Utah State University
5210 Old Main Hill
Logan, UT 84322-5210
435-797-7163




Yes, NRCS should be able to help. Ask them about "pasture pumps", these devices have been successfully used in Ohio and elsewhere. Believe it or not, the cows actually learn to work the pump with their nose. They pump the water just like a water well at a recreational park or campground. I'm not joking, I've seen it in action. When used in conjunction with livestock exclusion fencing, it keeps the cows out of the streams.

Jerry Rouch
Ohio EPA



In an issue of Land and Water, I read an article about alternative watering devices that protected streams/waterquality. I couldn't find the article, but it was about a "cow-operated" pump that let the cow nuzzle a level to deliver a drink. See their webpage at Land and Water

Jay Cornelius
EnSafe Inc.
Phone: (901) 372-7962 Fax: (901) 372-2454




I wouldn't pay for one!! The most popular and reliable ones I've seen are home made. They work just like a toilet (with the floating bulb that triggers the release of water to fill the tank). The tank here is usually an old bathtub. Of course these were all associated with wells/ well pumps in the middle of fields, rather than instream collection devices. From my experience in graduate school, an instream collection system can be HUGELY problematic. Fluctuating water levels, crap clogging the intakes, and floods can really ruin the reliability of pumping from the stream.

Henry Wood
Blue Ridge Ridge Environmental Consulting, Inc
600 Highway 25 N
Travelers Rest, SC 29690

Livestock degraded stream in petroleum pipeline right-of-way

Try Ritchie Industries, they carry one of the largest lines of animal watering products, a lot of other companies specialize in specific products such as valves and pipe but no containers, or visa versa. Ritchie has a website at Ritchie Industries

Richard Gitar
Wetland Specialist
Fond du Lac Reservation
Cloquet, Minnesota



I do not know any specific companies, but what has always worked for me was fence the entire reach of the stream with alternative watering from: * well drilled near the watering devices * spring development near the watering device * pump (solar?) delivering water from the stream to the watering device The actual watering devices vary drastically, and depends on what the farmers needs are. The only key here is whether they are freeze-proof. If not, those in cold weather climates tend to burst during spells of freezing weather.

Jim Harrison
EPA



Your request for information regarding information on cattle watering and stream bank protection was sent to me. The South Florida Water Management District did a similar task for an entire watershed, Taylor Creek/Nubbin Slough, several years ago. I know that project is out there on the Internet somewhere, maybe USDA, I have forwarded your e-mail to Gary Ritter who worked on that project along with the USDA and private contractors. I hope he will be able to help with your request.

Harold E. Price Staff Environmental Scientist--SFWMD



We have a variety of grazing and livestock watering options. This information I can make available if desired.

Specifics:

How many landowners involved? Type of livestock operations?...dairy, cow/calf, feedlot How many head on average for each site that will be watering? Is stream bank fencing (exclusion of livestock) your only option?

We have found ways to graze livestock in riparian areas and still retain biodiversity and water quality values. However, there still are some situations, based on the type of livestock operation and limited pasture available for grazing, that stream bank fencing is the only option. We do recommend to fence the stream as a corridor pasture, allowing enough area within the fence to let livestock in and graze periodically.

All this depends on your objectives and the landowners operation. I'll send some information in the mail about some of our extension information on grazing and water developments for riparian areas. Also I'll forward this to one of our partners who specializes in watering developments for further input.

Regards,

Greg Hale
Provincial Co-ordinator
Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Program - "Cows and Fish"
Tel: 403-381-5377 Fax: 403-381-5723
Cows and Fish



A couple of proven offstream water supply devices include (1) hydraulic ram such as manufactured by Ram Co.
HCR 61, Box 16,
Lowesville VA 22951
TEL 804-277-8511
(2) a "nose pump" which is a small pump powered by the animal pushing a lever with its nose.
I don't have a supplier name for a nose pump as I'm reorganizing my files but you should be able to find them searching the internet. Either device is commonly used successfully in Oregon and much of the West.

Gary E. Formanek, P.E.
Agricultural Engineer 14055 SW 27th St., Beaverton, OR, 97008



A couple of conceptual thoughts. If you wish to avoid a pump, there may be a couple of options.

1. A hydraulic ram pump which uses water to pump a portion of the flow.
Hydraulic Ram Pumps

2. Could divert upstream far enough and bring flow with pipe to downstream (but upslope of the stream at that point) location. The elevation difference and friction loss of the pipe at the desired flow would give you an idea if it would work (or if you would have to go to bigger pipe. although I would guess that your required flows would be low).

Garry Grabow, Ph.D., P.E.
Extension Assistant Professor
NCSU Water Quality Group
Biological and Agricultural Engr.
North Carolina State University
Campus Box 7637
Raleigh, NC 27695-7637
ph 919-515-8244 FAX 919-515-7448
Garry Grabow



Try these sites I found with a quick web search.
Dusks Unlimited Canada
Nose Pumps
WRC

Steve Erickson
Frosty Hollow Ecological Restoration
Box 53, Langley, WA, USA 98260




The NRCS office in Athens, GA gave a demo to farmers last summer using a low head gravity fed pumping system that is cheap and effective if the right amount of stream fall exists. One of the interesting things they found was that locating water away from cattle was appreciated by cattle and it led to a reduction in hoof disease.

Mickey Feltus
EPA

Cow drinking form stream

During the summer of 1998, I worked for the Forest Service in Washington state. On the district where I worked, there was a riparian recovery site. Part of my duties included monitoring this site. The monitoring included taking water samples (dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature and dissolved solids) at a point before, at four points along and at a point after the recovery project. The site was in an area where cattle were allowed to graze. As such, getting water to the cattle while excluding them from the stream was a major concern.

The problem was addressed in two ways. One was by making crossings that were 15 - 20 meters wide in the fence at points along the stream. In these crossings, gravel was placed in order to reduce the amount of damage that the animals did while going to get water. The banks were a little more gently sloped before gravel was added where crossings occurred to help avoid hoof shear and the addition of sedimentation. The second way that getting water to the cattle was addressed was with water troughs that were added outside of the fence and supplied with water from the stream. Black PVC tubing was put in about 100 - 200 meters above the trough. The diameter of the tubing was gradually decreased in order to build water pressure so that the water could be pulled out of the stream and put into the troughs.

Doug Holt
Wildlife Biologist



I am running a similar project here in Vermont, fencing dairy cows away from streams. In my largest site, I lucked out and the farmer had a spring upslope of the site and we piped it to a standard watering tank. I also purchased a couple of pasture pumps, which one beef farmer used with some success in remote pastures. I tried it out with a dairy herd and observed them learning to use it, but dairy farmers here a reluctant to trust required water intake to such a weird device. My sources for pasture pumps were:

Farm'Trol Equipment
409 Maryville St.
Theresa, WI 53091
920-488-3221

This guy sells a German-made pasture pump the "Utina M" which he claims is far superior to its imitators. Its cost in 1997 was ~$400. He also sells a drive-through self-closing electrified gate that I used for an occasional equipment crossing - it allows the farmer to drive through without leaving the tractor, but keeps the cows out (If you end up using one of these, contact me first - the installation instructions are dangerously incomplete).

I also purchased one of the "cheap imitations" (according to Farm'Trol) from:

Rife Hydraulic Engineering Mfg. Co.
60 Parrish St. P.O. Box 70
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702
1-800-RIFERAM or 717-823-5730


The Rife pasture pump was an identical design to the Utina, but made from aluminum instead of enameled steel, therefore considerably lighter. So far, it seems to work just as well. Rife also sells a line of hydraulic ram pumps that were more elaborate than I needed, but might be useful elsewhere.

As you're in the neighborhood, you might consider contacting a couple of people I know who might have some additional info:

Will Harmon (Long Creek Watershed Project)
Extension Associate
NCSU Water Quality Group
Campus Box 7637
Raleigh, NC 27695
919-515-8245

Dr. Jean Spooner, director of the NCSU Water Quality Group, can also refer you to other sources of info.


Hope this helps

Don Meals
Water Quality Project Manager
Vermont DEC - Water Quality Division
Waterbury, VT




Just thought I'd let folks out there know that things are looking up in Idaho for off-stream watering - the legislature just passed a law allowing diversion of water under certain circumstances for watering livestock with a simple $25 permit rather than a valid water right.

In the past a big impediment to off-stream watering in Idaho was the requirement to have a valid water right to remove any water from the stream, even the usually trival amounts neccessary to keep to keep a herd from dehydrating. On the other hand it was perfectly ok to allow cattle unrestricted access to the stream for watering purposes, as no water was physically divereted through the efforts of man.

This may seem strange to some, but it's true. Consequence being that it was far easier for ranchers to follow this practice, and a pain in the ... to get a valid water right. I am sure you can guess the preferred practice, and even understand why.

Now at least we have removed a major regulatory hurdle, made it easier for off-stream watering to take place. There is still the expense - but we already have ways of dealing with that. Shade will still attract animal to streams around here as in many places there are no trees away from water. Building some kind of shading structure could help, but this will be a considerable additional expense. Still things are looking up for getting more cattle way from our streams more of the time.

Don A. Essig - TMDL Program Specialist
IDEQ
1410 N. Hilton
Boise, ID 83706-1255



James
This site will provide some of the information you are searching for: Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration

Dennis Lastuka
Conservation Technician
Lethbridge District Office
203 Federal Bldg.
704-4th Ave. S.
Lethbridge, Alta. T1J 0N8



We've had a couple of small acreage beef-pasture operations use nosepumps as an economical means of providing off-stream watering.
Here's a link to the nosepump folks:
Palouse Nose Pumps

Dean Moberg
Water Quality Specialist
USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service
Oregon



One cheap and effective water supply technique for the livestock could be a hydraulic ram pump which operates without electricity and with minimal head drop required. A simple web search under that name will yield numerous suppliers.
Good luck

Daniel L. Calhoun
US Geological Survey-Georgia District
3039 Amwiler Road, Suite 130
Atlanta, GA 30360-2824
770-903-9144 (voice)
770-903-9199 (fax)
USGS National Water Quality Assessment Program



James, we use standard stock tanks that come in various sizes. Are you going to drill a well or use a large storage tank. At Melrose Air Force Range we fill our stock tanks from wells using windmill or solar powered pumps. We also pump ground water into 10,000 gal. storage tanks and then allow gravity to feed various stock tanks.

David Zane Davis



Sounds like you have two interesting challenges. I suspect it will be more difficult to convince the cow owners to fence the cows out of the streams than to move the water up the slope. Because I have a need to move water uphill to a pond that I built, I have recently read a good bit and played around with methods of moving water (siphons and ram pumps). I have also discussed methods of moving water for cattle with the District Conservationist (Natural Resources Conservation Service) in Wilkes Co. All types require some maintenance, at least checking to see that they are working, and this is one of the things that the farmers don't like. Depending on the situation I think you have the following choices:

Siphons (can move water uphill, but discharge must be lower than intake and there are limits)
Hydraulic ram pumps (work great, but requires 3-5 foot minimum fall from intake to pump and a minimum flow of source water depending on size and manufacture of the ram)
Solar Pumps (don't know much about them)
Spring Development Systems (Contact Wilkes NRCS for Info., must pipe water down hill and away from channel to watering site)
Sling Pumps (In-stream Paddle wheel type pumps, need large stream to operate)
Livestock foot pumps (livestock pump water by pressing on unit with hoof, pasture pump manufactured by Rife Ram, max vertical lift = 26 feet)

Ram Pump Sources:

Rife Hydraulic Engine Manufacturing Co.
60 Parrish Street
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18703
1-800 RIFE Ram
(570)823-5730
Rife sells the livestock pasture pump and sling pumps.

The Ram Co.
247 Llama Lane
Lowesville, VA 22967
1-800-277-8511
(804)277-8511
The Ram Company
The Ram Co. (or Flemming hydro-rams) also sells solar pumps.

Bamford Ram Pumps (can be used underwater)
Bamford Ram Pumps

Gravi-Chek Pumps (similar to a ram pump)
Gravi-Chek Pumps

Other internet sites with solar/wind pumps, books, etc.:
Jade Mountain
Oregon Water Wheels
Sun Trek Energy
Watertanks

Hope this helps.
David Sawyer Wildlife Biologist (336)957-4855
Ron Howard (Wilkes County District Conservationist)
(336)838-3622 ext. 3



James, I talked to Arnold Norman with NRCS's Grazing Lands Technology Institute. He said your best source of information for livestock water would be Michael Hall in South Carolina. Michael's number is (864) 388-9163 Ext 5.

Dave Moffitt
NRCS
PS Did you do a search on the WWW? I did a brief search and came up with several references, including
Conmag



James - I'm just finishing up a draft report on an agricultural BMP project that we did in western NC. Main problem was high sediment load. BMP's included fencing out the cattle and providing bridge across creek for pasture access, and a gravity-fed watering tank. Pictures of the tank are attached to this note. Source water was a hillside seepage area that also provided drinking water for the farmer, but an alternate supply could have been a small pvc pipe from upstream in the main creek. I'm sure you can check with local NRCS contacts, or their web pages for similar info.

Hope this helps. Give my regards to M. Wolfe if he's still with you. I can email draft copy of my BMP report if you're interested; I'll be giving the talk at Watershed 2000 Conference in Vancouver in July.
Dave Braatz
Duke Energy, NC

watertank

watertank

I am working on a Master's with the University of Waterloo in Canada, looking at the impact of access on the aquatic biology of a stream within and downstream of the access. There is a parallel study looking at bacterial impact both in the water column and sediment. We are attempting to develop low-cost remedial plans which do not necessarily require complete fencing of the entire watercourse. Complete fencing is often unworkable in the larger remote pastures.

We have observed some trends which may limit the amount of time in the stream and thus the rate of direct defecation. Also, we have observed a tendency of cattle to select preferred crossing points. Bank instability is more a result of grazing and trampling at the top of bank, reducing root structure and therefore less stable banks for the next storm runoff. I would be happy to discuss the concepts we are looking at which may reduce impact.

I have also worked on alternate watering concepts for several years prior to this research. We have used solar power, sling pumps, nose pumps and spring boxes to name a few. These all have pros and cons. It all depends on the number of cows, pasture size, barn proximity etc.

Dave Hayman



One of our folks experienced in the use of watering devices for various kinds of livestoch had this precautionary note about mechanical v. solar pumps:

*The nose pumps that are mechanical instead of solar work well for cows and sheep. The solar nose pumps work best for horses and pigs. They are smarter... If you give them a mechanical nose pump... the pigs become developers and begin making their condominium size swimming pools. The 18 mudhole condo scene... I guess horses just "play" with them... not development per se, but a lot of water goes unused in the horse tract and on to the race tract...*

Luanne Coachman
King County NPDES Stormwater Permit Coordinator
201 S. Jackson St., Suite 600
Seattle, WA 98104-3855
(206)296-8381



Your message was passed on to me from someone else. While I was working in Minnesota we faced the same situation. We found a device that we called the cow powered pasture pump. Many livestock owners were skeptical of it however after they saw that it worked we were able to get more of these on other farms. They are not very expensive and low maint. I would recommend that you call Steve Hughes, Aitkin County SWCD to find out specifis on cost and brand name. His phone number is (218) 927-6565.

Chris Freiburger
Habitat Protection Unit
Fisheries Division, Michigan



I recommend that you contact the local soil and water conservation district office or the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service office. Generally, these two branches are located in the same office. If you want to talk with someone who is well know in Virginia for his knowledge of watering systems, stream fencing and grazing management systems get in touch with Mike Altizer who is currently working with the Southwest Virginia Forage and Grassland Council. You can reach him at 540/889-1621. This is his home phone number. He works out of his home. Mike has a wealth of on-the-ground experience.

Charles Lunsford



You may want to contact Dr. Rocky English at Clemson University. He is currently implementing a 319 grant in which alternative livestock watering practices are involved. His number is 864-656-4861. (I wouldn't be suprised if he was also on this list serve).

Andy Miller
Watershed Manager
S.C. DHEC
803-898-4031



Some of you may find this interesting for alternative livestock watering systems. A gentleman named John Bamford from Australia has invented a new twist on the hydraulic ram pump. I have enclosed a portion of a message he sent to me concerning the pump. It sounds promising and there is a web site listed.

If you are interested, I do have plans for a home-made conventional ram pump located on the web at:
Home-made Ram Pump

Materials cost around $120.00 US for the pump shown. Much of that information was provided by Frank Henning from the University of Georgia Extension Service, with actual performance data provided from a pump we constructed and installed near Clemson University. Mr. Bamford's pump seems to be quite a bit more efficient.

Bryan Smith
Clemson University