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MD | Looking to buy an automatic cattle waterer for 40 beef cattle... I live in Maryland... Seems like Ritchie is a good name but do I need one with the balls that cover the water holes or is that just a luxury? |
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NE Oklahoma | I like the Ritchie, easy to hook up , and to work on if need to. |
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SE ND | I like jug. |
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Maryland | We like Ritchie as well. They seem very popular in this area and work well with our operation. We have the ones with the balls but don't use any electric because enough animals drink out of them. We get ours from Ryder Supply who is a distributor. |
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mn | I like Ritchie fountains also.
They do have a few models that are a low profile that I don't care for but love the taller cattle models. |
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| I like Corbett |
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Central Mo | I have some of the Ritchie energy free ones and when it gets pretty cold I have trouble with the balls freezing when the cattle don't drink out of them overnight. I have to knock them loose of a morning if I don't have more than 30 using it at a time. I put in a couple Cobetts this spring so I haven't been through a winter with them yet. I'm hoping they work good in the cold, we don't normally have real cold weather but sometimes we'll have a week that it doesn't get above freezing during the day and around zero at night. It is kind of a pain to go mess with them before work of a morning. |
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SC Wisconsin | I'll be the odd one out and vote for the energy free mirafount. Not sure how cold the winters get in Maryland but they do well here in Wisconsin. Easy to install and adjust if you ever need to. |
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NC Indiana | Lapp energy free waters made in PA. |
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central pa | Times 1000 on the mirafount. Have 4 of them. 1 in the feedlot and 3 out in the pasture for cows. Hold 40 some gallon of water 1 ball on each side and the sides are removable so 4 animals can drink at once. Much easier to clean than the jug we have in the feedlot. Pour a nice pad to set it on and buy an insulated heat well. haven't had one freeze yet at the float. When we put ours in I put a hydrant near each one so I can hook it up to 100 gallon water tub in he summer. No problems yet 45 pairs this summer on them. |
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southern MN | Been very happy with my Cobett for over a decade.
http://cobett.com
Paul |
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Driftless SW Wisconsin | jd4230dude - 10/6/2017 22:01 Looking to buy an automatic cattle waterer for 40 beef cattle... I live in Maryland... Seems like Ritchie is a good name but do I need one with the balls that cover the water holes or is that just a luxury? Whether you need a waterer with the floating balls to seal depends on your approach. If you don't mind using electricity at the waterer and this is a permanent installation I would use a concrete waterer with electric heater and install it on concrete with an insulated heat tube and 4" tall riser one foot larger all around than the base of the waterer. The ones with the floats can be difficult to clean in the summer. A key point for any waterer is how hard is it to drain and clean out. For a permanent, year around waterer I like the Bohlmann 250 or Petersen 34C. I have had the Petersen for about 10 years and the Bohlmann for about 4 years with good success as year round main waterers. I use a couple plastic Mirafount 3100s in a couple summer pastures. They are easier to install and less expensive than the concrete waterers but use a donut heater which needs to be taken in and out over the summer and has sometimes needed replacement when I've tried to use them over our Wisconsin winters. Which ever waterer you end up with, the key to success is in the installation, imho.
Edited by Jim 10/7/2017 09:12
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SW, Missouri | jd4230dude - 10/6/2017 22:01
Looking to buy an automatic cattle waterer for 40 beef cattle... I live in Maryland... Seems like Ritchie is a good name but do I need one with the balls that cover the water holes or is that just a luxury? IMO Ritchie tanks have went down in quality the past 20 years. Our old Ritchie's are 20+ years old and never freeze or give problems, our newest are ten or less and one will freeze at 33°. I don't think they insulate anymore. Plastic seems cheaper on them as well. |
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Central IA | Cobett |
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Iowa | Agree on Cobett. Very simple design. Easy to clean. I can't imagine a waterer that's as maintenance-free. |
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Northern Minnesota | Hedge Post - 10/7/2017 09:59 Agree on Cobett. I can't imagine a waterer that's as maintenance-free.
"Maintenance-free"? In cold weather you have to break the ice every morning!! |
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SC,Missouri | I don't get the obsession with the cobetts we have 2 and they always have a layer of ice on top to break and they're way over priced for plastic and foam IMO. |
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west central Iowa | Been around most of them, I like the Cobett. |
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southern MN | You need to break ice in Missouri? Wow. Did you install it right? Low water level, deep enough tube, etc?
Mine will stay ice free at 20 below if there is no wind and several cattle are drinking. I think I'm a lot coleder climate up here. We have had troubles with 5 foot deep water lines freezing up the past 2 years, the Cobett has worked well through that.
What freezes mine over is wind chill; or if the water level is too high in it; or if the cattle are out in stalks and don't come in to drink for 12+ hours.
Person probably should check a waterer once a day anyhow, so even if it skims over an inch of ice, pretty easy to whack with a hammer and good for another 24 hours.
Paul |
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Iowa | I meant maintenance-free as never needing repairs or parts replaced.
Edited by Hedge Post 10/7/2017 13:36
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Central IA | I'd rather bust some ice than pay the electricity to run heating elements that eventually fail and freeze up your entire waterer and spend half a day getting it going again. |
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SC,Missouri | We installed it as deep as possible. We have bedrock here in Missouri and it will get ice on it at 20 degrees. |
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NW Iowa | Jim - 10/7/2017 09:09
jd4230dude - 10/6/2017 22:01 Looking to buy an automatic cattle waterer for 40 beef cattle... I live in Maryland... Seems like Ritchie is a good name but do I need one with the balls that cover the water holes or is that just a luxury? Whether you need a waterer with the floating balls to seal depends on your approach. If you don't mind using electricity at the waterer and this is a permanent installation I would use a concrete waterer with electric heater and install it on concrete with an insulated heat tube and 4" tall riser one foot larger all around than the base of the waterer. The ones with the floats can be difficult to clean in the summer. A key point for any waterer is how hard is it to drain and clean out. For a permanent, year around waterer I like the Bohlmann 250 or Petersen 34C. I have had the Petersen for about 10 years and the Bohlmann for about 4 years with good success as year round main waterers. I use a couple plastic Mirafount 3100s in a couple summer pastures. They are easier to install and less expensive than the concrete waterers but use a donut heater which needs to be taken in and out over the summer and has sometimes needed replacement when I've tried to use them over our Wisconsin winters. Which ever waterer you end up with, the key to success is in the installation, imho.
I have a bohlman or Peterson at my place (they're pretty similar) and that thing will freeze up with the wrong wind. With those you need to make sure the insulation in the lid is good...mine is not...that is part of the problem. Also, I have not had good luck with the brass valve in it, it would continue to seep (even a brand new one?)...I swapped a Ritchie valve and float into it and am much happier.
I put a newer plastic Ritchie at the farm a few years ago and have had virtually zero issues with it. |
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East Central Saskatchewan | Franklin's, have heating elements but ok with me. Haven't got a new one in a long time so can't say about those. The JUG waterers also seem to be a good investment from what I've heard and have good warranty. |
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NC South Dakota | I love mine!
Most guys with problems with them didn't read the manual.
1. Install with a good heat well!
2. Adjust Float so when the tank is full, only a portion of the pall touches the rim.
3. Chop Ice once a week if its really really cold.
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SE ND | With enough cattle drinking, don't need electricity, cleaning, or repairs with just wintering cows here. Tank is 20 years old, (guessing) and probably had one valve replaced. Great waters |
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western iowa,by Denison | Have had good luck with bohlmen-but 40 head wonder if a garden hose and tank would be better |
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NNW Nebraska | Here, I put in a underground drain tile to take overflow water. Use a tank, possibly 6 ft for that number of cattle. Put a bleed valve on, that you can open slightly during cold weather. Set float level to only fill tank half full. Most of the time, cattle come drink the water down before the tank runs over, so not much water goes out the overflow. Don't take much water Flowing to keep a drinking hole open. Bleed valve needs to be dumping under float to keep float fron freezing. |
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Driftless SW Wisconsin | I also replaced the brass valve and ball float in the petersen with a plastic Mirafount valve and a pancake styrofoam float when I first installed it to get a faster fill. I think petersen offers either the brass or plastic float. My petersen has the black lid as shown in my link. My Bohlmann has the metal lid. Never had a problem with either of them freezing up, even at 10-15 degrees F below zero. I think they used to offer 2 different wattage heaters. Maybe you got the small one?
 (IMG 015 Some winter afternoon pics at -5F 011716 Petersen waterer ice free.jpg)
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 IMG 015 Some winter afternoon pics at -5F 011716 Petersen waterer ice free.jpg (90KB - 168 downloads)
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nebraska | I put in a Ritchie energy free two hole waterer in 1992. Still using it. Best if you have a windbreak to block the North/Northwest winter winds. Never had problems as long as the cows were eating hay. They would come often to drink and kept the waterer working. Problems did come when cows were out on corn stalks. They behaved like cows do when on pasture. They would stay out in the field a long time then come in to drink all at once. Some times when really cold and windy the water valve connected to the float would freeze shut. Had to carry boiling water to it and pour on the valve. When I put it in, I buried 10 gauge underground wire just in case. Did not hook up a heater till 2 years ago. Best thing I ever did. Before the waterer we had a tank. Breaking ice with a ax was a daily chore. We had a barrel anchored in the middle of the tank. We would burn wood in it to melt the ice when it got real bad. After many years of that, A few trips a winter to thaw the valve seemed easy compared to how we did it before. Now I plug in the 500 watt heater I have in the water when single didgit temps come along with lots of wind. Never had to touch it since. For a waterer to still be in use 25 years later is why I like Ritchie. |
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Which automatic cattle waterer?
