Culvert Used To Make Solid Stock Tanks

Culvert Used To Make Solid Stock Tanks LIVESTOCK Beef When Gene Baumgardner needed water tanks for beef cattle on his Jeffersonville Ohio farm his father-in-law John T Ricketts suggested using a 4-ft dia concrete culvert that had been sitting in the weeds on his farm for years     Baumgardner’s nephew J L Draganic designed a system of nine paddocks to keep cattle out of flood-prone low ground and a nearby creek They installed two watering tanks fed by an artesian well to cover all the paddocks     “We had a local company that does concrete sawing cut the culvert in two but you could do it yourself with a concrete saw ” Baumgardner says Each half was set into the ground to leave 30 to 32 in of the concrete above ground They packed the ground well and covered the bottom of the tank with gravel around the pipes     “We bought a gallon of concrete adhesive and spread it on the walls of the culvert to ensure a good seal between the floor and walls ” says Baumgardner “We used Quickcrete to pour a floor 3 to 4 in thick We have stainless steel and brass fittings set into the bottom so we can replace the pipes as needed ”     Each tank holds between 150 and 200 gal and water flows in about 2 or 3 gal /minute which is enough to keep the tanks open in the winter and algae from growing in the summer An overflow pipe inside each tank takes extra water to a nearby swale so that the area around the tank is always dry     The pad around the tank is covered with Geo Cloth a heavy-duty drainage fabric and topped with a layer of stone     “It reduces the amount of gravel you have to use and stabilizes the pad ” Baumgardner says     The tank and pad turned out great for Baumgardner’s pasture paddocks Despite last year’s drought 34 cows did very well on 30 acres of pasture Because of some issues with reliable gravity flow he plans to install a wind-powered air compressor to power a water pump To accommodate calves he will add gravel to raise the area around the tank to make it easier for them to drink     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Gene Baumgardner 4042 Carr’s Mill-Jamestown Rd Jeffersonville Ohio 43128 ph 614 316-4000

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