Dexter Stock Tank Height

[jd60557]

Do Dexters require shorter stock tanks, more like sheep tanks? There seems to be a choice of either 2 foot or 1 foot tanks, and very little in between these. I take it as a given that recently weaned animals would like a shorter tank better...

I was thinking to buy a round tank about 4 or 5 feet across( for 2-3 cows and their calves), and rolling it to different areas along with the step in fencing.

[laughingllama75]

mine drink from a regular 75 gal stock tank, except I DO put in a small 5 gall one next to it for the calf. Not sure how it would be for the shorties, mine are all the long legs. hope this helps.

[jd60557]

laughingllama75 said:

mine drink from a regular 75 gal stock tank, except I DO put in a small 5 gall one next to it for the calf. Not sure how it would be for the shorties, mine are all the long legs. hope this helps.

So... is this the 2 foot tall tank?

[theburrowfarm]

The 1 foot tanks work well for all .We run sheep with our dexters so it's more of a necessity .

[legendrockranch]

We sometimes use both sizes just because of the calves.
It seems however everyone likes drinking from the smaller sized tough. We now have 3 small troughs all lined up and fill them daily.

Barb

[cddexter]

as a word of precaution (I know, I know, you aren't looking at BIG tanks) a Dexter owner who started with 'real' cows and a tall tank, and added Dexters: their Dex bull got in a tussle with one of the bull calves, and pushed it over the edge of the tank into the water. The calf drowned before he could get his feet under him. Of course it was her favorite one and the one she was halter training to take to the fair. I'm thinking either the shorter tank, or some sort of fence/round bale feeder around it so no one can get dumped in the water. Nothing worse than a preventable accident. c.

[lakeportfarms]

There are a few considerations... If you are planning to move the water frequently you'll want the smaller tank, it is easier to drain and move. What has worked exceptionally well for us with rotating pastures (and we move them twice per day) is to use small stock tanks with an auto waterer, hooked into a larger polytank that holds the bulk of the water. That way you get the capacity without the access problems (and drowning issue). I constructed a rolling cart that is like a large wagon that holds both plus our mineral to roll along when changing pastures. When more water is needed, it is taken back to the hydrant to refill. I can move it by hand but it is pretty heavy when it is full, so we use the tractor to move it large distances when refilling and changing to a different pasture. They like the fresh water that constantly comes out into the small tank, plus it is easy to clean.

As part of my experimentation, we also have a 1500 gallon polytank on a hay wagon, and we run hoses to small stock tanks in adjacent pastures. It saved our behind this past summer when we experienced a one week power outage since we had sufficient reserves to water the cows without changing our pasture rotation. We finally pulled out the generator to hook into the well, and within an hour the power came back on! I should have done it several days earlier...

[kansasdexters]

We use Rubbermaid 50-gallon poly tanks, equipped with automatic fill valves. These are located next to our Ritchey automatic insulated waterers. The Rubbermaid tanks are accessible for all ages (newborn and older) of calves and they are easy to dump and keep clean. The Ritchey automatic insulated waterers are very nice, but only two animals can drink from the two-hole model at the same time. The Rubbermaid 50-gallon poly tanks allow a small group to drink water at the same time. Most of the cows and all of the calves prefer to drink from the Rubbermaid poly tanks. The sidewall height on these poly tanks is 12-inches. We have short-legged and long-legged Dexters and the 50-gallon Rubbermaid poly tank works well for all of them.

When it was really hot (115 oF) last summer, I manually dumped and refilled the poly tanks several times a day to provide ground temperature (60 oF) water to the cows and calves, and it was the best way we had to help them cool off.

Patti

[laughingllama75]

Yep, they are about 28". but, I can see everyone elses point....if you do not have any tanks now and need to buy them.....definatley go shorter.

[legendrockranch]

The smaller ones we use are also the 50 gallon Rubbermaid poly tanks. I like them a lot, easy to dump out and put fresh water in. We don't put them directly on the ground we cut pallets to size and place them on the pallets.
When we clean them we use our pressure washer for the heavy duty jobs, when they are not to grungy but need a light cleaning we use a long handled scrub brush.
Tomorrow with the warm weather we'll be pressure washing about 10 tanks.

Barb

[ironbutt]

I learned from a friend that if you wrap some barley stubble up in a piece of cloth and immerse it in your stock tank water it keeps it from get slimly keeps water from starting to get algae.

[marion]

Yes they make those little barley things commercially too. Fascinating! Must try that this coming summer..marion

[wvdexters]

When I first got my girls Kate "shortie" could not reach down into the large stock tank and drink. She could just reach out and skim off the top. She can drink from either now that she is bigger.

[dexterlady]

How funny Redridge!...I have a picture of my friends heifer laying down in the tub!....Our cows got so hot last summer, I was hosing them down during the hottest part of the day!....I think this year I am going to put a sprinkler hose out back for them...That way they can get as cool as they want...Mine just love the water spraying on their tummies....Maybe I can get a few pics. this year......Dexterlady