Winter Watering Options for Your Horse Farm

Winter can make the most mundane tasks challenging. This reality is clearly illustrated when it comes to watering animals. For as long as man has worked alongside horses and livestock, there have been different watering methods and their seasonal variations.

Fresh, clean water is critical to good health, and freezing temperatures can make providing this very difficult. During cold months, the horse’s digestion converts feedstuffs into energy that results in body heat. This process is critical to winter survival. As animals switch from moisture-rich grass to drier hay, water consumption is important not only for hydration but also to keep feed moving through the digestive tract.

Common causes of dehydration in winter include:

Icy water can be too cold to consume comfortably
Water source is completely frozen over
Animals left to survive on snow and ice
Water is too hot due to improper adjustment on heater
Water has electric current due to malfunctioning heating element

Cold water is a somewhat hidden cause of dehydration. A study out of Penn State University has shown that increasing water temperature from just above freezing to 4-18 degrees Celsius will increase the amount of water consumed by up to 40 percent – that’s A LOT.

Inadequate water intake for sustained periods has two immediate impacts that are the starting point of bigger problems:

Decreased feed intake – This will have a direct impact on the animal’s ability to maintain body weight as well as decrease their ability to consume enough feed/energy to tolerate the cold weather.

Impaction colic – If a horse doesn’t consume enough water either because it’s frozen or it’s too cold for them to drink comfortably, the risk of impaction colic can rise.

Waterer Options for Winter

Horse and livestock owners have many common and popular waterer options to choose from when deciding what is best for them and their animals. The primary variables that distinguish waterers are permanent versus portable, and electric versus non-electric.

Winter Watering – Permanent versus Portable

Buckets (ultra-portable)
Troughs/tanks (semi-portable)
Automatic waterers (mostly permanent)

Portable waterers can be up and running instantly. The general rule of thumb, particularly as it relates to watering in the winter, is: The more portable a water solution is, the more likely it will freeze quickly and be expensive to operate (because of electricity consumption). There is also the extra time it will take to check, maintain, and fill.

Winter Watering – Electricity versus No Electricity

There is no denying that wiring electricity to automatic waterers is considered the norm in some areas. At one point it was a cutting edge breakthrough, then it became the standard, and now there are other alternatives to consider.

There are some definite benefits to utilizing electricity. Waterers that use electricity are typically heating water to prevent it from freezing. This means there is never any training required and implementation can be as simple as putting a heating element inside of a trough or stock tank.

The advantages of electric are its convenience, quick implementation, and that it does not require training.

The disadvantages include the high cost of electricity, the cost and time involved in maintaining heating elements, environmental impact of electricity use, and the fact that a malfunctioning unit could electrocute animals or overheat and cause a fire.

Electric Waterers

Within the electric waterer family there are two main categories:

Water Troughs with Submersible Heating Elements – Horses have been known to chew on submersible heaters or play with them and knock them out of their water source. Horseplay can lead to situations that are hazardous. Frayed wires or a malfunctioning unit can lead to an electric charge in the water, or worse, a barn fire. This is why it’s imperative to check this style of heater daily

Automatic Heated Waterers – This is the more permanent automatic waterer. The electricity provided to this unit is typically run underground and comes up from underneath the unit. Typical characteristics of this style of waterer include a bowl with standing water controlled by a float valve (like in the back of a toilet). When the water drops below a certain level, the valve opens, and the water is replenished.

The water standing in the bowl is heated to prevent it from freezing. The nice thing about this solution is that you can always see if there is water in the bowl by visually inspecting the water source. However, due to some of the risks outlined above, it’s not a bad idea to physically inspect the water source to ensure the water is not too hot, or possibly carrying an electric current.

While convenience of use is the major upside with this option, what it gains in convenience it loses with cost and maintenance. Because there is standing water, you will usually need to scrub algae and/or growth from these units regularly. In