Frostfree Nosepumps

[15444]

I liked the idea behind the frost free nose pumps, but the price scared me away. I can understand 600 or maybe even 700 a unit. But over a grand is ridiculous.

[grassfarmer]

15444, if the water source you hit is producing 4000
gallons a day in a drought why do you need all that
(dugout) storage capacity? Could you not just have
piped the source into a wet well or nose pump and
filled the hole in - that way you don't lose anything to
evaporation?

[15444]

The water hit the level you saw in the pond pictures and stayed static - it never rose above that point.

We had thought about putting a pump in, and it still is an option in the future.

However, that would involve putting in hydro to that property. And you don't do that in Ontario anymore without the bill climbing towards the 5k mark - labour cost alone for an Ontario hydro crew is just shy of $300/hour and the clock starts when you call them. For us, it could cost $600 just for them to get to the gate.

The last hydro bill is showing Ontario inching towards 10 cent/kwhour. Getting a little too pricey to use hydro anymore.

[grassfarmer]

With the nose pump you don't have an ongoing cost
of solar panel and battery replacement so I'd think it
is about a wash - just you are paying out upfront.

[15444]

Well GF, you say that the recommendation for the nose pumps was 1 pump for 100 cows. But somehow I remember it being closer to 1 for 30 cows. I thought it said that on the website.

Also, I remember them not being recommended as the sole source of watering in hot weather. I'm sick of pumping water into troughs every morning in the summer.

I could also see it being a problem with very young, 2-3 week old calves in getting adequate water on 30 degree days.

[smcgrath76]

good timing. We are just digging a dugout right now. With oilfield breakup coming, there are some
track hoes looking for stuff to do, and I am pretty sure it will be mostly full this spring when (if)
all this snow melts.
We are putting in 2 wet wells and may water up to 400 head out of the dugout. 200' long, 18' deep and
50 to 60' wide.
We have not 100% decided on the pump setup but are leaning towards solar/wind hybrid with an electric
eye. We are currently debating how much will be "package" vs home built. We looked at the frostfree
pumps and I agree they are very good, and would have some applications for us in other locations but we
would need several which jacks the price quite high. Also the need to knock the ice off in very cold
weather was a deterrent as the location is not readily accessible via truck or tractor all the time. I
am not that keen about getting on a saddle horse in 40 below so i can knock the ice off a pump.
We are going to set up the solar pump so we can yank it out of the well in the summer and use it at
other locations as well.

[grassfarmer]

I was talking about the nose pump as a winter water
source - we don't use them in summer as the cattle
would only be in that enclosure with the pump for a
couple of days in the year. Recommendation is up to
100 head per pump so 100 cows in winter or 50 pairs
in summer. In practise I'd be comfortable with at least
120 cows in winter as they have plenty time on their
hands that time of year.

Sean, if your water source is at a distance I think I'd
trust a nosepump more than a solar/wind/bowl deal.
I'd be wanting to see them daily for sure. You are the
kind of guy who could build your own nosepump
pretty easy I'm sure.

[ALLFARMER]

SMC how are you getting the water from the
dugout to you wet wells?

Our dugout is 20' deep and when we dug it (7 yrs
ago) we ran 2 - 2" plastic lines thru the side of the
dug out to the culvert. Our wet well is also about
20' deep. The problem we have had is 2 or 3
times now the water stops running into the wet
well. I think the one line never did work (kinked I
guess) the second line some how got dirt in it and
we had to clean it out with a pressure line. It has
worked well the last couple years now. The
exception being when a beaver moved into our
yard and decided to plug the lines in the dugout.
We also ran another line 8' deep and ran that to a
jet pump in the pump house. So 2 systems both
plumbed together. Submersible can prime the jet
pump if the power is out for a while and the cows
drain the system. Also low pressure switches
ensure the pumps don't run dry. With two system
you will need check valves or in our case the jet
pump will push water backwards thru the
submersible.

[smcgrath76]

Got 2 culverts on kijiji and plan to run
2" hose to them. The second well will be
a backup at first and then a way that I
can fence to add/change access points and
graze more groups. I will leave enough
hose in the end of the dugout with a line
attached that if I needed to service the
well I can pull the end of the line out of
the dugout and pump the wells out.

[ALLFARMER]

Sounds like a good plan SMC I took an old
grader blade and put it in the chop saw and put a
point on it like a survey stake. Pounded it into the
bottom of the dugout and wired the hoses to that
so that they stay a foot or so off the bottom. My
idea was in winter your not going to adjust the
height in winter if the water level gets low.