The water troughs on the farm have been coming under increasing pressure with the growth in the herd. Most paddocks had access to two troughs as I had previously doubled the paddock sizes. I had increased the available water flow a few years ago by upgrading the water pipes to inch diameter. Some of the pipes were only half-inch at the time, so that increased the supply by four. I also linked the whole farm in a continuous ring so most troughs had water flowing from both sides. This effectively doubled the volume again.

The main limit left was trough size. The bigger the trough means the bigger the reserve, and also the more cows that can drink together. As they needed replacing, I had been installing 175- to 200-gallon troughs. There were still a few 75-gallon concrete and a few recycled baths, but I thought they were OK as there could be two in a paddock.

There was also a slight preference for the higher-placed trough, something I would have more associated with sheep liking to go uphill

The problem I saw was though the cows seemed to prefer one trough over the other, usually the closest to the gap. There was also a slight preference for the higher-placed trough, something I would have more associated with sheep liking to go uphill.

Having drained the trough, I could see bullies keeping the weaker ones back as they drank anything flowing. There is nothing like a queue to attract extra people to stand and wait in case of missing out. It was exactly the same with the cows.

The result would be at best some very loud complaints, or at worst an overturned trough resulting in a muddy gap and all the cows going thirsty.

Upgrade

I had to bite the bullet and upgrade. By moving a few around, I got away with six new 225-gallon troughs. They are bottom-filled, included the valve, and set me back nearly €1,300 excluding VAT.

The second limit was the speed of filling. I could see immediately the benefits of the new valves, so I upgraded the rest of the troughs with faster RXP plastic systems instead of the older brass ball valves. A bit of DIY was needed as larger new valves did not allow the cover to sit properly and cows started to knock them off (photo above).

Two rolls of inch pipe were added to replace two remaining half-inch spurs. I was able to reuse most of the floats and joints (photo below). This reduced the cost but the “extra bits and pieces” added up to another €650 excluding VAT.

If a cow doesn’t get water when looking for it, she can be lazy enough not to come back. I now rarely see cows drinking as they leave the field for milking. Expensive in a year like this, but I should have done it years ago.

The cost of “fitting by farmer” doesn’t appear on any invoice.