Hello,Just wondering if it is necessary to clean out my stock tank ocasionally to prevent any illness.Thanks in advance. Dave (central WI)

-- dave (duckthis1@maqs.net), April 17, 2002

Answers

icky things like strangles in horses is passed on through the water, but most folks don't clean unless there is a problem.

I am assuming here you mean a trough, not a big pond.

One rancher around here drains and scrubs his barn troughs once a month. He's the only one I know who does. They sure do look nice!!

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), April 17, 2002.

I clean the stock tank, water buckets, and feed pans every two weeks in the summer, more often if they're noticably dirty. Chicken waterers are bleached and scrubbed weekly in the summer- I don't think there's anything more nasty than a dirty chicken waterer.

Stacy in NY

-- Stacy (KincoraFarm@aol.com), April 17, 2002.

Your supposed to clean troughs. Stagnant water isn't healthy for anything except mosquitos. We don't go to extremes but I know a fellow who says if he can't drink from the trough his cows won't either! I'd fuss more over the quality going in to the trough, do you test the water? For bacteria and for nitrates?

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), April 17, 2002.

Ross, you made me smile with your comment about the guy that won't let his cows drink what he wouldn't. I'm always telling my youngest daughter, "Would you want to eat/drink out of that?"

Our animals drink the same well water that we do, we had it tested when we moved here in 1999.

Stacy in NY

-- Stacy (KincoraFarm@aol.com), April 17, 2002.

Ross,We have very good well water(tested about 2 yrs ago)the tank I am inquiring about is around 50 gals.

-- Dave (duckthis1@maqs.net), April 17, 2002.

When I was a kid my grandfather use to put the cheep feeder gold fish in all his water tanks. We use to try and catch them and he would tell us to leave them alone because they helped keep it clean. He would put a dozen in each one but by winter they would all be gone, from racoons and the like. He did always have a board on one end across the tank so the fish would have somwhere to hide. I don't know if it really works it is just somthing I remember as a kid.

-- Teresa (c3ranch@socket.net), April 17, 2002.

The tank should be relatively clean maybe two or three times a summer clean it and dry it out. Fish are great for eating mosquito larva in the tanks as well as other stuff.

-- John in Mn. (nospam@mywork.com), April 17, 2002.

A lot of the hairy green or brown algae that grows in those troughs is actually blue-green algae, and can be poisonous. Better to keep it down.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), April 17, 2002.

I use about a gallon a year of bleach, empty & brush out the tank a few times over summer, rinse a bit of bleach in.

--->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), April 17, 2002.

Hi,

We use automatic waterers in 50 gallon tanks, but the tanks are cleaned out every month and we use a small amount of bleach to kill the algae and other nasties in the water. Our stock drinks the same well water we do so water has been tested. I just don't like the looks of a dirty drinking trough, so every animal gets a thorough cleaning as needed. Usually in summer it is every two weeks,but chickens get theirs weekly. Rinse well after cleaning and fill. I found that a marine brush works great (mine has lasted five years), it is the kind of brush used to clean the undersides of boats.

-- Cindy (sidepasser@hotmail.com), April 17, 2002.

Oops, should be "every animal's waterer gets a thorough cleaning" - hit send before I read it!

-- Cindy (sidepasser@hotmail.com), April 17, 2002.

Maybe its because we milk, and milk is water, but we use 50 gallon white plastic barrells cut in half, they get scrubed clean once a week, more in the fall when the leaves fall. It was always a rule that if you wouldn't drink the water, than why would the does? Now the donkeys and bucks waterers are automatic, and they get cleaned when I would be embarassed for someone to see them :) Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 17, 2002.

We test water 4 times a year but we have frost heaving our ground and a dug well not drilled. OK it's drilled too. Water testing is free here (Ontario) but it would have to be pretty dear for me not to get it done at least in the late spring!

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), April 17, 2002.