Frost-free nose pump allows cattle to pump their own water Cold weather can present challenges for watering cattle, especially in climates where water sources freeze up or areas with no access to electricity for tank heaters. Jim Anderson of Rimbey, Alberta, Canada solved this problem 25 years ago by creating an innovative water system in which cattle pump water for themselves from shallow wells – water that never freezes, even at 40 degrees below zero. A handy invention Anderson’s innovation is a piston pump, like the old-fashioned well where a person works the handle up and down to lift water. “We modified it so cattle could use their nose to push a lever. This operates the piston pump by raising and lowering the piston in the cylinder, the same as a handle used to do,” he explained. “Like the old-fashioned hand pump, we have a threeinch cylinder down inside the well. This is how we made this pump frost-free, capturing geothermal heat from the ground and containing this heat all the way up to the surface to keep the water in the pipe from freezing,” he said. The waterer is a small basin on top of a vertical culvert, with a lever which can be pushed by the cows’ nose. The culvert has two feet above ground, going down to whatever depth is required to make use of ground water or water from the bottom of a pond or dugout nearby. Water from the pond is piped horizontally underground to the bottom of the culvert, where it then rises to the same level as the pond surface but will not freeze. A buried collection tank from
a spring works also. A regular well can be used, as long as the water level comes up to within 50 feet – and preferably 30 or less feet – from the surface. “Some ranchers use large pipes, but the typical installation is a road culvert at least 24 inches in diameter, set into the ground. The two factors determining how much geothermal heat one will gain is how deep they go and how big a diameter pipe they take to this depth,” Anderson explained. “The bigger the pipe, the more opportunity for heat to rise to keep the water pipe in the center warm enough,” he added. Utilizing nose pumps Alvin Lusk, manager of Agricultural Resources at Brigham Young UniversityIdaho in Rexburg, Idaho, said their cattle facility has two nose pumps. He installed the first one about nine years ago and another two years later. “Our facility is located near the river, and the water table is fairly close to the surface – around four to 12 feet down. Where we pasture cattle is far enough away from our buildings we didn’t want to run electricity down there for pumping or to keep water tanks heated,” he said. “We heard about nose pumps and searched for more information. We got our nose pumps from Anderson and installed them ourselves,” said Lusk. Lusk further explained he used a backhoe to dig a hole deep enough to get water to come into it, then put the culvert in the hole, nearly 12 feet deep. He then put gravel around it and drilled holes around the bottom end of the culvert to
allow water to come into it. “We dug it as deep as we could with the backhoe because we knew there would be times in the fall when our water table was low. The river is low during this time of year, with irrigation around the area pulling water out of the river,” he explained. Of the two wells they put in, one goes dry temporarily when the water table drops. “The other pump works year-round, and we can make both of them work all year if we plan ahead,” said Lusk. “If we know we’ll be putting cattle near the one that might go dry, we start running the pivot in the field next to it so the water table rises.” Benefits of nose pumps Lusk pointed out it took Continued on next page
Catching on – Jim Anderson explains once a few cattle in the herd catch on to using the nose pump, others will follow suit. Courtesy photo
Industry leading genetics and the highest quality Red Angus, with 79 years of Satisfied Customers Beckton has long been the premier breeder of Red Angus cattle which combine calving ease, maternal traits, and rapid growth to yearling age, for maximum overall profitability to commercial cow-calf cattlemen. Beckton’s balanced genetics and emphasis on the maternal traits, have made them the leading choice for commercial replacement females and for building a productive cow herd. And the lower birth weights make them a first choice for breeding heifers. Ever since the original Red Angus Herd Builder Index was created, more than 80% of the highest ranking sires for overall profitability are Beckton sires or descended from Beckton sires.
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www.becktonredangus.com becktonwyo@gmail.com 37 Beckton Drive • Sheridan, WY 82801 307-674-6095 • 307-674-8162 - Evenings Fax: 307-672-7281 Cam and Trish Forbes Frost-free nose pump – Jim Anderson's frost-free nose pump invention is a waterer with a small basin on top of a vertical culvert, with a lever which can be pushed down by a cow's nose. Courtesy photo