Cattle Driven Water Pumps Power Powered Solar Energy

The frostfree nosepump, an excellent riparian management tool, is ideal for dugouts and shallow wells where there is no access to electricity. Cattle pump their own water.

We recommend 100 cows or 50 cow/calf pairs per pump. It takes them a few days to figure out that they have to take turns. They will figure out their own system of rotation. If required, two or more nosepumps can be installed back to back on the same culvert, giving extra capacity.

See application diagram.

Young calves will not operate the pump but they do learn to operate the pump on the pasture with their mothers. How quickly they learn, is partially dependent on the distance the pump is lifting water. In our experience this has not posed a problem in the performance of the calves. As long as they have the cow's milk, and the cow has a good supply of clean, cool water, they perform very well. Whether to supply supplemental water to calves is an individual management decision to be made by each producer, depending on their own circumstances.

See Calves & the FFNP page.

Our experience so far is with wells drilled from 21 to 72 feet with standing water between 7 and 45 feet, and with dugouts and ponds within these ranges. These operate well, although the higher the lift, the more force is required to push the lever. There are two positions on the pump itself. One position gives a greater mechanical advantage for deeper wells, but also delivers less water per stroke.

The best applications will be to convert dugouts (ponds) to a year-round source of water and for wells with standing water at 30 feet or less, although the nosepump will draw from deeper depths as mentioned in question #3. All of these applications provide year-round water for livestock.

See diagrams of these applications on this site.

The first cow in line gets water on the 4th stroke (with the pendulum on the front position of the hood). It takes 2˝ minutes for the water to drain down to the drain hole level. Those drinking within that time do not need to replenish this water. Once the livestock know the water is there, they will pump until it comes up.

See video on this site.

Not very long. Young stock may take longer than cows. The best time to train is prior to frost, when the drain hole could be plugged. Livestock then get a drink with only one stroke (even the first animal). Cows learn very quickly and will train others.

See Training Livestock page.

See installation instructions on this site.

That depends on where you live. In Alberta, there is a water act that applies to all watering facilities. Familiarize yourself with this act before any water installation. A licensed water well driller is required for the installation of any well in Alberta. We hope everyone will use care and attention with their installation in order to protect the water quality for themselves and others. Bentonite is used to seal over the aquifer. If the pump is over a well, a sealed cement pad MUST be put around the site to protect the well from contamination.

See links on this site.

These programs change regularly but at the time of writing, there is a joint Alberta/Canada water program and also PFRA frequently has water programs as well. Contact local conservation groups, watershed groups, Ducks Unlimited, forage associations etc. to see if you would qualify for support by keeping livestock out of water sources.

See links on this site.

This will partially depend on your local costs and how much of the work you can do yourself. The cost breakdown will include drilling for a well or trenching for a dugout, the cost of the culvert (typically a 24" culvert, 21 ft. long), the pump (complete with cylinder & foot valve), the steel lid for the culvert, insulation for the culvert and lid, and finally a platform for the cows to stand on (a 20' x 20' cement pad with styrofoam insulation underneath works very well). The total installation would typically be between $2500 - $3500 Canadian for a dugout or shallow well. If the well is deeper, the cost will naturally go up. If a well is being drilled, make sure the driller understands the system and that as large a volume of water is not required as would normally be required for a pressure system. In some cases wells have been drilled deeper than necessary in order to get a large volume of water. This unnecessarily adds cost.

They use bentonite. If you are not in an area that requires a licensed driller, it would be a good recommended practice to use bentonite to make this seal to prevent contamination from surface water.

Approximately one half litre (1/2 quart) of water comes up with each full stroke. This is about what the animal can swallow at one time, and therefore they don’t leave water in the trough when they quit drinking. This helps prevent freezing in the trough. Water DOES NOT drain out of the trough as this would contaminate the water source.

We depend on geothermal heat from the ground to heat the wide diameter culvert. For this reason, we need the culvert in the ground deep enough to provide this heat (usually 20’). The culvert is insulated to retain this heat. There is a drain hole in the pipe 5 ft. down from the pump. When the cows walk away, the water slowly drains down to this depth. Water in the trough DOES NOT drain down (to protect the water source from contamination) but the cows leave very little water in the trough and the tiny bit of ice formed does not accumulate because the action of the cows drinking melts any ice in the bottom of the trough. We also recommend insulation under a cement pad around the pump. This prevents frost from being driven down to a level that could freeze your system.

See Preventing Freezing page and video Pumping at -40°.

Yes. It allows producers to keep their cattle out of water sources, providing the cattle with clean water as well as those downstream from the source. The nipple in the trough prevents any drain back that could contaminate the water source. An excellent riparian management tool.

The water is always cool and clean. The temperature of water delivered from this pump should be optimal for performance according to research. Well water will come out of the ground between 50-56 ş F. (13 şC) Extensive records of well-water temps have shown that the water temp between depths of 9 and 18 m. is essentially constant throughout the year.

“Ideal drinking water temperature for livestock is between 40 and 65 şF. Steers having access to cool drinking water gained .3 to .4 lbs. more per day than those drinking warm water”
(Boyles, S., K. Wohlgemuth, G. Fisher, D Lundstrom, and L Johnson, 1988. Livestock and Water, AS-954. North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND)

“Water temperature may affect water intake by cattle. Research has shown that cool water helps cattle maintain a proper body temperature and can increase water intake, in turn increasing weight gains. If it is possible to maintain cool drinking water, there is a performance advantage to producers. During a study conducted in Alberta, researchers documented a 9% greater weight gain in calves with cows drinking water from a trough compared to those drinking directly from a pond. Steers in the same study showed a 16 – 19% increase in weight under the same environment.”
(Authored by: L. Braul and B. Kirychuk, PFRA, wth thanks to W. Willms, B. Lardner, D. Christensen, B. Kelmmer, and D. Corkal)

We have a number of customers using the pump for bison and horses. Our own horses are also using the pump. (See photo album and video pages) Horses seem to be a bit more challenging to train, and may not be willing to lift water from the deeper depths (eg. 30 feet) that cattle are more than willing to do.

We have no experience to date with other animals.

Services we offer include the following: Frost free frostfree nose pump pumps nosepump nosepumps Jim Jackie Anderson cattle cow cows calf calfs calve calves bull bulls livestock beef water watering waterer pump pumps pumping pumper pumpers well wells sun suns solar power powering powered dugout dugouts dug out seep seepage seeping push pushing electric electricity horse horses riparian trough troughs pond ponds environment environmental farm farms farming farmer equipment concrete cement pad pads insulate insulating insulation sleeve sleeves geothermal heat heats heating heater drain drains droining hole holes push pushing pushes sustain sustaining sustainable train trains trainer training freeze freezes freezing remote pasture pastures winter winters wintering feed feeds feeding bison bisons buffalo buffalos buffaloes energy free solution maintenance maintain innovation innovative invention inventions wean weans weaning herd herds lever levers culvert culverts casing crib cribbing prevent prevents prevention contaminate contaminates contamination drill drills drilling driller ground low cost year round swath swathing graze grazing install installation backhoe trench trenchs trenches trenching trencher witch withcing witcher dowser static level rate gain train training temperature cost pressure system systems shallow deep successful western producer journal cattleman magazine rimbey review stockmans stockmans grass agdealer grainnews call of the land cbc pfra prairie farm report testimonials order buy purchases.

Serving the following Canadian Canada Province Provinces and Territory Territories: Alberta AB, British Columbia BC, Manitoba MB, New Brunswick NB, Newfoundland and Labrador NL, Nova Scotia NS, Ontario ON, Quebec QC, Prince Edward Island PE PEI, Saskatchewan SK, Northwest Territories NT, Nunavut NU, Yukon YT.

Serving the following Canadian Canada Cities City: Airdrie Calgary Edmonton Grande Prairie Leduc Lethbridge Medicine Hat Red Deer Rimbey Spruce Grove St. Albert Abbotsford Burnaby Coquitlam Kamloops Kelowna Nanaimo Prince George Richmond Surrey Vancouver Victoria Brandon Dauphin Flin Flon Portage la Prairie Selkirk Steinbach Thompson Winkler Winnipeg Bathurst Campbellton Edmundston Fredericton Miramichi Moncton Saint John Corner Brook Mount Pearl St. John's Cape Breton Sydney Halifax Dartmouth Barrie Brampton Brantford Burlington Cambridge Chatham-Kent Greater Sudbury Guelph Hamilton Kingston Kitchener London Mississauga Niagara Falls Oshawa Ottawa Peterborough Pickering Sarnia Sault Ste. Marie St. Catharines Thunder Bay Toronto Vaughan Waterloo Windsor Gatineau Laval Lévis Longueuil Montreal Quebec Saguenay Sherbrooke Terrebonne Trois-Rivičres Charlottetown Summerside Estevan Humboldt Lloydminster Melfort Melville Moose Jaw North Battleford Prince Albert Regina Saskatoon Swift Current Weyburn Yorkton.

Serving the following United States of America US USA State: Alabama AL, Alaska AK, American Samoa AS, Arizona AZ, Arkansas AR, California CA, Colorado CO, Connecticut CT, Delaware DE, District Of Columbia DC, Federated States Of Micronesia FM, Florida FL, Georgia GA, Guam GU, Hawaii HI, Idaho ID, Illinois IL, Indiana IN, Iowa IA, Kansas KS, Kentucky KY, Louisiana LA, Maine ME, Marshall Islands MH, Maryland MD, Massachusetts MA, Michigan MI, Minnesota MN, Mississippi MS, Missouri MO, Montana MT, Nebraska NE, Nevada NV, New Hampshire NH, New Jersey NJ, New Mexico NM, New York NY, North Carolina NC, North Dakota ND, Northern Mariana Islands MP, Ohio OH, Oklahoma OK, Oregon OR, Palau PW, Pennsylvania PA, Puerto Rico PR, Rhode Island RI, South Carolina SC, South Dakota SD, Tennessee TN, Texas TX, Utah UT, Vermont VT, Virgin Islands VI, Virginia VA, Washington WA, West Virginia WV, Wisconsin WI, Wyoming WY.

Serving the following United States of America US USA City Cities: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Fransico Oakland San Jose, Boston, Dallas Ft Worth, Detroit, Washington, Houston, Cleveland, Atlanta, Tampa St Pete, Minneapolis St Paul, Miami Ft Lauderdale, Seattle Tacoma, Pittsburgh, St Louis, Denver, Phoenix, Sacramento Stockton, Baltimore, Hartford New Haven, Orlando Daytona Bch, San Diego, Indianapolis, Portland, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Nashville, Columbus, Raleigh Durham, Greenville Ashville,NC, New Orleans, Buffalo, Memphis, Grand Rapids Kalamazoo BC, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Norfolk Hampton, Harrisburg York, Providence, West Palm Vero Beach, Louisville, Greensboro Winston Salem, Birmingham, Charleston Huntington, Dayton, Albuquerque, Scranton WB, Albany Schenectady, Jacksonville, Tulsa, Little Rock, Flint Saginaw, Fresno Visalia, Wichita Hutchinson, Mobile Pensacola, Toledo, Richmond, Knoxville, Shreveport Texarkana, Green Bay Appleton, Des Moines, Roanoke Lynchburg, Syracuse, Honolulu, Portland, Omaha, Austin, Lexington, Rochester, Springfield Champaign, Paducah, South Bend Elkhart, Spokane, Davenport, IA QuadCity, IL, Tuscon, Chattanooga, Springfield, Cedar Rapids Waterloo Dubuque, Bristol Johnson City, Huntsville Florence, Columbia, Jackson, Johnstown Altoona, Las Vegas, Madison, Youngstown, Evansville, Ft Myers Naples, Baton Rouge, Greenville New Bern, Waco Bryan, Springfield, Lincoln Kearney, Burlington, El Paso, Colorado Springs Pueblo, Fort Wayne, Sioux Falls Mitchell, Savannah, Montgomery Selma, Charleston, Lansing Jackson, Peoria Bloomington, Fargo Morehead, Monterey Salinas, Augusta, Santa Barbara SLO, McAllen Brownsville, Fort Smith, Tallahassee, Lafayette, Reno, Tyler Longview, Columbus, Eugene, Monroe El Dorado, Amarillo, Macon, Corpus Christi, La Crosse Eau Claire, Yakima, Wausau, Traverse City, Tupelo Columbus, Duluth Superior,WI, Wichita Falls Lawton, Terre Haute, Beaumont Port Arthur, Binghamton, Rockford, Boise, Topeka, Sioux City, Chico Redding, Florence, Bakersfield, Erie, Wheeling Steubenville, Wilmington, Bluefield Beckley, Rochester, Bismark Minot Dickinson, Odessa Midland, Joplin, MO Pittsburg,KS, Lubbock, Albany, Medford, Columbia Jefferson City, Clarksburg Weston, Bangor, Quincy Hannibal, Anchorage, Biloxi, Abilene Sweetwater, Dothan, Idaho Falls Pocatello, Utica, Salisbury, Rapid City, Hattiesburg Laurel, Gainesville, Alexandria, Elmira, Billings, Panama City, Watertown Carthage, Greenwood Greenville, Jonesboro, Lake Charles, Missoula, Sherman Denison Ardmore Ada, Harrisonburg, Palm Springs, Yuma El Centro, Meridian, Grand Junction Durango, Great Falls, Jackson, Tuscaloosa, Marquette, Eureka, San Angelo, Butte, St Joseph, Bowling Green, Anniston, Lafayette, Cheyenne, Casper Riverton, Hagerstown, Lima, Charlottesville, Parkersburg, Laredo, Zanesville, Twin Falls, Flagstaff, Presque Isle, Ottumwa Kirksville, Bend, Fairbanks, Victoria, Mankato, Helena, North Platte, Alpena.





	How many animals will one pump water? What about the calves? How deep can the well be? What is the best application for these pumps? How many strokes does it take for the cow to get a drink? How long does it take to train livestock to use this pump? What do you need to prepare for and use this pump? Are there any water restrictions? Are there any government grants for installation of watering systems? What will it cost to install this pump system? What do water well drillers use to seal the hole from contamination outside the culvert? How much water pumps into the trough with each stroke of the lever? Why doesn't this pump freeze? Is this pump environmentally friendly? What is the temperature of the water and how does that affect the cattle? Will bison and horses use this pump? Will other animals use the pump, eg. sheep, goats, sows etc.? 1) How many animals will one pump water? We recommend 100 cows or 50 cow/calf pairs per pump. It takes them a few days to figure out that they have to take turns. They will figure out their own system of rotation. If required, two or more nosepumps can be installed back to back on the same culvert, giving extra capacity. See application diagram. \| top of page \| 2) What about the calves? Young calves will not operate the pump but they do learn to operate the pump on the pasture with their mothers. How quickly they learn, is partially dependent on the distance the pump is lifting water. In our experience this has not posed a problem in the performance of the calves. As long as they have the cow's milk, and the cow has a good supply of clean, cool water, they perform very well. Whether to supply supplemental water to calves is an individual management decision to be made by each producer, depending on their own circumstances. See Calves & the FFNP page. \| top of page \| 3) How deep can the well be? Our experience so far is with wells drilled from 21 to 72 feet with standing water between 7 and 45 feet, and with dugouts and ponds within these ranges. These operate well, although the higher the lift, the more force is required to push the lever. There are two positions on the pump itself. One position gives a greater mechanical advantage for deeper wells, but also delivers less water per stroke. \| top of page \| 4) What is the best application for these pumps? The best applications will be to convert dugouts (ponds) to a year-round source of water and for wells with standing water at 30 feet or less, although the nosepump will draw from deeper depths as mentioned in question #3. All of these applications provide year-round water for livestock. See diagrams of these applications on this site. \| top of page \| 5) How many strokes does it take for the cow to get a drink? The first cow in line gets water on the 4th stroke (with the pendulum on the front position of the hood). It takes 2˝ minutes for the water to drain down to the drain hole level. Those drinking within that time do not need to replenish this water. Once the livestock know the water is there, they will pump until it comes up. See video on this site. \| top of page \| 6) How long does it take to train livestock to use this pump? Not very long. Young stock may take longer than cows. The best time to train is prior to frost, when the drain hole could be plugged. Livestock then get a drink with only one stroke (even the first animal). Cows learn very quickly and will train others. See Training Livestock page. \| top of page \| 7) What do you need to prepare for and use this pump? See installation instructions on this site. \| top of page \| 8) Are there any water restrictions? That depends on where you live. In Alberta, there is a water act that applies to all watering facilities. Familiarize yourself with this act before any water installation. A licensed water well driller is required for the installation of any well in Alberta. We hope everyone will use care and attention with their installation in order to protect the water quality for themselves and others. Bentonite is used to seal over the aquifer. If the pump is over a well, a sealed cement pad MUST be put around the site to protect the well from contamination. See links on this site. \| top of page \| 9) Are there any government grants for installation of watering systems? These programs change regularly but at the time of writing, there is a joint Alberta/Canada water program and also PFRA frequently has water programs as well. Contact local conservation groups, watershed groups, Ducks Unlimited, forage associations etc. to see if you would qualify for support by keeping livestock out of water sources. See links on this site. \| top of page \| 10) What will it cost to install this pump system? This will partially depend on your local costs and how much of the work you can do yourself. The cost breakdown will include drilling for a well or trenching for a dugout, the cost of the culvert (typically a 24" culvert, 21 ft. long), the pump (complete with cylinder & foot valve), the steel lid for the culvert, insulation for the culvert and lid, and finally a platform for the cows to stand on (a 20' x 20' cement pad with styrofoam insulation underneath works very well). The total installation would typically be between $2500 - $3500 Canadian for a dugout or shallow well. If the well is deeper, the cost will naturally go up. If a well is being drilled, make sure the driller understands the system and that as large a volume of water is not required as would normally be required for a pressure system. In some cases wells have been drilled deeper than necessary in order to get a large volume of water. This unnecessarily adds cost. \| top of page \| 11) What do water well drillers use to seal the hole from contamination outside the culvert? They use bentonite. If you are not in an area that requires a licensed driller, it would be a good recommended practice to use bentonite to make this seal to prevent contamination from surface water. \| top of page \| 12) How much water pumps into the trough with each stroke of the lever? Approximately one half litre (1/2 quart) of water comes up with each full stroke. This is about what the animal can swallow at one time, and therefore they don’t leave water in the trough when they quit drinking. This helps prevent freezing in the trough. Water DOES NOT drain out of the trough as this would contaminate the water source. \| top of page \| 13) Why doesn't this pump freeze? We depend on geothermal heat from the ground to heat the wide diameter culvert. For this reason, we need the culvert in the ground deep enough to provide this heat (usually 20’). The culvert is insulated to retain this heat. There is a drain hole in the pipe 5 ft. down from the pump. When the cows walk away, the water slowly drains down to this depth. Water in the trough DOES NOT drain down (to protect the water source from contamination) but the cows leave very little water in the trough and the tiny bit of ice formed does not accumulate because the action of the cows drinking melts any ice in the bottom of the trough. We also recommend insulation under a cement pad around the pump. This prevents frost from being driven down to a level that could freeze your system. See Preventing Freezing page and video Pumping at -40°. \| top of page \| 14) Is this pump environmentally friendly? Yes. It allows producers to keep their cattle out of water sources, providing the cattle with clean water as well as those downstream from the source. The nipple in the trough prevents any drain back that could contaminate the water source. An excellent riparian management tool. \| top of page \| 15) What is the temperature of the water and how does that affect the cattle? The water is always cool and clean. The temperature of water delivered from this pump should be optimal for performance according to research. Well water will come out of the ground between 50-56 ş F. (13 şC) Extensive records of well-water temps have shown that the water temp between depths of 9 and 18 m. is essentially constant throughout the year. “Ideal drinking water temperature for livestock is between 40 and 65 şF. Steers having access to cool drinking water gained .3 to .4 lbs. more per day than those drinking warm water” (Boyles, S., K. Wohlgemuth, G. Fisher, D Lundstrom, and L Johnson, 1988. Livestock and Water, AS-954. North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND) “Water temperature may affect water intake by cattle. Research has shown that cool water helps cattle maintain a proper body temperature and can increase water intake, in turn increasing weight gains. If it is possible to maintain cool drinking water, there is a performance advantage to producers. During a study conducted in Alberta, researchers documented a 9% greater weight gain in calves with cows drinking water from a trough compared to those drinking directly from a pond. Steers in the same study showed a 16 – 19% increase in weight under the same environment.” (Authored by: L. Braul and B. Kirychuk, PFRA, wth thanks to W. Willms, B. Lardner, D. Christensen, B. Kelmmer, and D. Corkal) \| top of page \| 16) Will bison and horses use this pump? We have a number of customers using the pump for bison and horses. Our own horses are also using the pump. (See photo album and video pages) Horses seem to be a bit more challenging to train, and may not be willing to lift water from the deeper depths (eg. 30 feet) that cattle are more than willing to do. \| top of page \| 17) Will other animals use the pump, eg. sheep, goats, sows etc.? We have no experience to date with other animals. \| top of page \| \| Home \| About Us & The Pump \| Pump Installation \| Calves & the FFNP \| \| Training Livestock \| Installation Cost \| Preventing Freezing \| Applications \| \| FAQ \| Videos \| Photo Album \| Media \| Brochure \| Testimonials \| Links & Grants \| \| Pricing & Ordering \| Contact Us \| Copyright © 2002-08 "Frostfree Nosepumps Ltd.". All rights reserved. Designed, hosted and maintained by 20/20 Website. This web site optimized for MSIE version 4+ at 800x600 screen resolution or higher.