A Clean Cattle Tank

Some of you might remember I’ve had a hard time with with keeping my cattle tank thawed whenever the temperature gets about one degree below the freezing point despite trying heater after heater.  It still froze over after the latest new heater was put in.  My brother-in-law told my nephew, who relayed the information to me, that I’d never be able to keep it from freezing over.  The heaters do a good job of keeping the water thawed so the inner workings don’t freeze and get damaged, but not to keep it open.  My thought is that is crap.

I finally called the company that made the tank, which is surprisingly only about an hour from my farm.  The man I spoke to didn’t seem surprised to hear my dilemma and was very happy to share that they have a good deal with the company that makes the heaters to provide a higher quality product to them.  I was only too happy to have him ship me a heater like the one that was originally in it and kept it from having a single shard of ice on the top when we actually had a cold winter.

It looks fairly similar to the one I had purchased (and is from the same company), but this one doesn’t have a plain stainless steel heating element.  There’s something covering and protecting that heat surface.  Hopefully it will stand up to the goose sludge a little better, and I’ll make sure to remove it for storage once it isn’t needed any more.

Haley

While I was working on the tank and we had sixty degree temperatures, I decided I ought to completely clean the tank out and its concrete slab too.  That goose sludge is hard on a heater, and I guess that’s why they tend to get hot spots and quit working.

Of course my usual little helper boy was there.  He might have gotten a bit too close and ended up with goose sludge on his feet.

Myson

Of course our temperatures have been warm and I might have got a bit of water on the inside of the tank when I was cleaning it, so I didn’t turn on the electricity.  I figured I had until this weekend to turn it on according to the weather forecast.  For now, the llama is giving it his approval.  He likes the clean water.

It was only twenty degrees when I got up this morning, so I put on my coat and turned on the electricity.  I took my hammer and went to bust the ice, but it was open.  That’s because it was overflowing.  It was just a little, but enough to keep it from freezing.  Tonight, I get to play in the tank again and clean the bit of rust out of the seal.  Anyhow, that’s what usually causes it to overflow.

Linking to Alphabe-Thursday and Thursday’s Favorite Things.

I Hate Goose Sludge

After cleaning the ice off the cattle tank, I said that it would be fine now until we had horrible cold winds again.  I was wrong.  When I was out the next morning, I noticed that there was a layer of ice again.  I cleaned it off, and it was open for the day.  I knew Sunday would be nice and warm and a perfect day for taking care of the problem.

There could only be one thing causing the ice~goose sludge.  Now don’t get me wrong, I love my geese.  It’s just that they have these little things on their tongue and the side of their beak that they use to filter dirt through.  (You can click on the picture below to enlarge it.) That means they need water, and this time of year that means the cattle tank.

Before I turned the water off, I filled three buckets of water to rinse the tank.  That might seem excessive, but I also have goats and geese acting like they’ve never seen water for a month.  I personally think the goose sludge probably leaves a bad taste to the water.  I was prepared.  I figured they couldn’t empty all three buckets.

Finally I turned the water off.  If you forget that part, it really is hard to empty the tank out.  Trust me, I know this from experience.  I also turned the electricity off.  That’s just a good precaution.  Then I started emptying the tank out.

This is goose sludge.  It’s like the bottom of a farm pond~fine black silt.  It’s smelly.  It gets into every crevice of my dried hands.  I can’t wash it off.  It’s disgusting!

Anyhow, back to emptying the tank.  I figured while I was emptying it out, I should also scrub the sides.  The best purchase I ever made for cleaning buckets and cattle tanks is the toilet brush.  It works quite well.

That opening full of sludge is where the water enters the bowl they drink from.  I’m not sure how the water could actually get in there.  Honestly, when I replaced the heater at the beginning of December, there was hardly anything in there.

Eventually, I’m ready to take the top off the tank and start cleaning around the heater.  Goose sludge also makes a wonderful insulator and holds the heat in, not letting it keep the water warm all the way to the top, hence the freezing over.

Finally, I went through most of what was left in my water buckets washing and rinsing and trying to get things cleaned out.  Then I turned the water and electricity back on and let it fill up.

I also took the opportunity provided by our warm weather today to try and get rid of the ice that had built up during the windstorm.  I’d already broken some loose before I thought about the camera.

It’s not an easy job to bust it all loose.

Let’s just say blogging keeps me honest.  I really didn’t want to do this.  It’s very hard on the arms.

However, I said I was going to do it today, so I couldn’t wimp out.

I’m sure the goats and geese and llama appreciate that tank being cleaned out and the ice removed.  Hopefully this will last until spring. I can’t imagine we’ll have many more warm days like today.

Linking to Homestead Barn Hop.