Small Acreage Horse Keeping
Sharing my Experiences
Horses drink how much?
That was the reaction my hubby had when I told him how much horses drink over a day. With water restrictions on and experiencing one of the worst droughts on record the amount of water a horse consumes really needs to be taken into consideration when developing a water budget.
Well, how much do you think a horse drinks during a 24 hour period?
As much as 50 liters during hot weather or as little as 20 liters when it is cold. I have two horses and I can tell you... they WILL drink 50 liters during hot weather. I know... I kept filling the water trough which has graduations on the side.
So to water my horses I need on average 35 liters of water per day per horse.
35L x 2 x 365 = 25,550 liters (or about 6,750 gallons) 2 horses would consume in one year. That is a lot of water already. So unless you have a steady and reliable supply of clean drinking water... you better think about where you are going to get it from, how to store it. and how to get it to your horses.
Well, how much do you think a horse drinks during a 24 hour period?
As much as 50 liters during hot weather or as little as 20 liters when it is cold. I have two horses and I can tell you... they WILL drink 50 liters during hot weather. I know... I kept filling the water trough which has graduations on the side.
So to water my horses I need on average 35 liters of water per day per horse.
35L x 2 x 365 = 25,550 liters (or about 6,750 gallons) 2 horses would consume in one year. That is a lot of water already. So unless you have a steady and reliable supply of clean drinking water... you better think about where you are going to get it from, how to store it. and how to get it to your horses.
Watering the boys
The first question we asked ourselves was... which type of water are we going to use?
We have both, trickle feed town water and two 25,000 liter rain water tanks which are both full to the brim thanks to some lovely rain. From my previous calculation one can assume that 50,000 liters of water should be enough to water my horses for a year with plenty left over, but alas.... remember... I am trying to establish pasture and also need water for irrigation. I can't use town water due to current level 4 water restrictions. A good read of those restriction, and a sigh of relieve... we can use town water to water our horses (but not wash them unless it's for health reasons).
The second question was... how do we get it to the horses?
We are still trying to find a suitable answer, though right now and after a back breaking week of continually refilling their water trough from the rainwater tank... we opted to get an automatic waterer and connected it to the trickle feed town water supply via a long garden hose. This allows us to move the waterer around the paddocks until we are buying another one. Our mind is at ease as we were not breaking any laws in view of the current water restriction.
The third question was... should we get more tanks?
A resounding yes! We are in the process of having a 6x12 meter shed build. The perfect opportunity to get one or two rainwater tanks installed. The only question, how big should they be. With a roof area of roughly 80m2 we should be able to collect a fair amount of rain... if it rains. Well, plans are with council... we await their decision.
Is that it?
Certainly not... just right now, until we are happy with the layout of the paddocks we are happy to shift the waterer with the horses an use the garden hose. In the long term we want to lay irrigation pipes to each paddock and install water points in each of them. This will serve two purposes...
1. We don't have to shift the automatic waterer as each paddock will have a trough of it's own, and
2. I don't have to run hugely long hoses to water the pasture even in the back paddock.
We have both, trickle feed town water and two 25,000 liter rain water tanks which are both full to the brim thanks to some lovely rain. From my previous calculation one can assume that 50,000 liters of water should be enough to water my horses for a year with plenty left over, but alas.... remember... I am trying to establish pasture and also need water for irrigation. I can't use town water due to current level 4 water restrictions. A good read of those restriction, and a sigh of relieve... we can use town water to water our horses (but not wash them unless it's for health reasons).
The second question was... how do we get it to the horses?
We are still trying to find a suitable answer, though right now and after a back breaking week of continually refilling their water trough from the rainwater tank... we opted to get an automatic waterer and connected it to the trickle feed town water supply via a long garden hose. This allows us to move the waterer around the paddocks until we are buying another one. Our mind is at ease as we were not breaking any laws in view of the current water restriction.
The third question was... should we get more tanks?
A resounding yes! We are in the process of having a 6x12 meter shed build. The perfect opportunity to get one or two rainwater tanks installed. The only question, how big should they be. With a roof area of roughly 80m2 we should be able to collect a fair amount of rain... if it rains. Well, plans are with council... we await their decision.
Is that it?
Certainly not... just right now, until we are happy with the layout of the paddocks we are happy to shift the waterer with the horses an use the garden hose. In the long term we want to lay irrigation pipes to each paddock and install water points in each of them. This will serve two purposes...
1. We don't have to shift the automatic waterer as each paddock will have a trough of it's own, and
2. I don't have to run hugely long hoses to water the pasture even in the back paddock.
