Stock Tank Questions

[Darron Gaus]

As the drought continues, stock tanks/ponds in my area of Texas are getting very low. Ranchers have asked me about erosion around the edges due to cattle traffic and undesirable smells and appearances as the water level gets lower. Does anyone have any good resources to solve these common stock tank problems/design?

 

[John Steitz]

I can picture the pond problem. My first thought is creating a crushed stone( or recycled concrete cheaper sometimes ) to create an access to the pond and restrict the rest. Size accordingly to pond, herd and budget. You may want to throw some fabric down first to support the stone, otherwise the stone just gets buried and you have to add more stone. I wouldn't be using a small crushed stone but maybe a 6" minus. Tank you probably could do same thing just surround.

 

[Darron Gaus]

What are some ideas/methods to "restrict the rest?" Thanks for the help.

 

[John Steitz]

What are some ideas/methods to "restrict the rest?" Thanks for the help.

Temporary electric would possibly be easiest and least disruptive. You may want to use cattle panels at access if narrow but kind of a touch/ feel kind of thing. You are basically building a boat ramp to give you a better picture.

 

[Linda Poole]

Hey Darron, great questions! Not sure if it could be a solution in your client's situation, but one thing that works well is to place moveable water troughs up and a ways away from what y'all in Texas call stock tanks/ponds and we in the north call reservoirs, dams, or dugouts.

Set up the water troughs to be filled with water pumped (solar pumps work great for this) up from the pond. The water stays cleaner and lasts longer, and the cows are usually happy not to wallow through the mud to get a drink. Even if it gets really hot it seems like cattle -- at least up here in Montana -- prefer not to take a mudbath if they can avoid it. The photo below is Dale Veseth tending this type of setup last summer. The cows had been in that pasture for more than a week when temps were at or above 100 degrees. If you zoom in you'll see that the cattle aren't muddy and the banks are in good shape. It cuts way down on stink, flies, and footrot too!

NRCS might even have cost-share for off-site watering.