Folks,
I’m choosing between Nelson or Bar Bar A auto waterers and am torn. I know some folks really love their Nelsons, others prefer the positives of no electricity, always fresh water of the BBAs Would welcome your feedback and experiences, good and bad with both. I’m in the cold northeast so freeing water is an issue. Thanks!
I had Nelsons for 9 years at my prior farm and just installed them at my new farm. I literally have not had one problem with them, ever. They also are very easy to clean (with removable bowls; I keep extras to swap out for cleaning). The downside is that you do need to run electricity to them.
I considered Bar Bar A and likely will use them for one field that I have that is far from any source of electricity. I decided against them for the other fields because one of my horses has to wear a grazing muzzle and I know of one person who had trouble with a muzzle getting caught on the lever on a Bar Bar. Other than that, I have only heard very positive things from users of Bar Bar, and the no electricity feature is attractive.
Why not Duramates? We use them in all 20 of or paddocks from april-November.
We have had a Ritchie waterer for the past 7 years and never have had a problem.
We have Nelsons at my family’s farm and I just put them in at my farm, so a second-generation Nelson person here. They are easy to use, easy to work on for minor adjustments, and the horses seem to adjust to them pretty well.
I was worried about my horses “getting” the paddle kind. I have one horse that is very spooky and particular – the Nelson is about all he can stand. as it is he backs off when it comes on and just comes back a lot to get his fill. Not sure he would ever deign to use the BBA design. He is the kind of horse that would prefer to dehydrate himself into a colic than drink out of something scary.
These look interesting, maybe even better than the Bar-Bar A, as far as not needing electricity:
I love my bar bar a waterers. Of course, we opted for no electric…so our choices were limited. I have three of them though, and they are one of the best upgrades we have ever made.
My b/o has 7 of them in various locations, and they have only occasional problems that the DH is able to repair. They work just fine even when the temperature is well below 0. (We are in southern Maine.) Once she gets a couple of babies weaned and makes a few relocations, we will not have to drag the hose out at all.
What a relief…
We have Ritchie- the Thrifty King model, no electricity and other than the worst of the Artic Blast last year, they have held up to winter in upper Virginia. And during the rest of the year, they are AMAZING!!!
I have no personal experience, but here is a pretty in-depth article comparing various auto-waterers:
We just put in a Ritchie eco fount. So far, so good and we had a really cold snap. I like that the water is fresher, and the low energy cost to heat the unit. I did not want a unit with a dry bowl.
[QUOTE=dotneko;7894848]
Why not Duramates? We use them in all 20 of or paddocks from april-November.[/QUOTE]
Wouldn’t most people want water year round, though?
I have had Nelsons for 9 years now, and love them. Super easy, no freezing, durable. I’d highly recommend.
Going on our third year with the Bar Bar A and love them. However I have not yet convinced my 28 year old horse how to use them. Though I honestly haven’t tried hard. If I could keep him with my others I have found they teach others how to drink out of them, but that is not an option. We installed two different types though, so my senior drinks from the bowl type. The other horses much prefer the Bar Bar A for the cool clean water. The bowl type grows algea quickly and needs to be cleaned often.
I have 21 Nelsons and I would not do them again. Next time, I am going for a BarBarA. The Nelsons have multiple parts that can fail and one of the parts most prone to failing costs 20 per part plus shipping. I am a big fan of auto waterers as a labor saver and because they don’t waste water, but I would not do the Nelsons. I met a abrn owner in FLA who had the eco founts, and she said getting them to balance was tricky (the balance is what tells the waterer to stop filling). She also said that horses who dunk their hay mess it up too.
I found Nelson Waterers to be undependable and a complete PITA !
I found Nelson waterers to be undependable
:mad:and just a [B]Complete PITA !
- A waste of time & $$$$$
I hate Nelson waterers as much as I hate snakes :lol:
and
I HATE SNAKES !!!:mad:[/B]
We still use the plain big troughs, 6’, 8’, 12’, 20’, with a box covering the ball.
It has to be very cold for those to freeze and we never had one freeze inside the box, so water can always refill.
We do have to break ice in the coldest weather, but not that much every winter.
They are large and some have overflow pipes we can unscrew and let drain to scrub them.
Those for cattle we clean every November, after the summer cattle are shipped and they generally stay clean all year.
For horses, we clean them about every month or two, unless one starts to look dirty and then we clean it right then.
Horses prefer those tanks over any other we have tried.
They love to stick their noses all the way in there, flip water around playing, play submarine, grab a mouthful of water and go dribble it on top of an unsuspecting horse or human.
Several horses can drink at once and there is always water coming in, keeping the water warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer, plus that is a good reserve of water if the well were to quit for a bit.
When we have other options for them to drink, they always prefer those tanks to any other, buckets or the smaller automatic ones.
Just one more option to consider.
This one is between two pens and is a 6’ one, I think:
I have only had my Nelsons for a year, but it was a VERY cold year. They have been great, glad we put them in.
Varnan!
I suggest you also consider the Varnan waterers… I was 100% planning to put in a Nelson a few years ago, then I started speaking with some managers of large farms in my area. Two people I greatly respect had switched from Nelsons to Varnan’s and were very happy. I went with that and have absolutely no regrets. I have had no issues, but I understand that they are very easy to fix with parts readily available at the hardware store. I got the heated model since I am in PA and was running electric to the site anyway. My favorite part is that the horses just LOVE to drink. They started using it right away, and I see them drinking often.
My installation guy was quite skeptical at first, he had believed Nelson’s to be the best, but now he recommends Varnan and I see them popping up around the neighborhood!
My Nelson’s have been a bit finicky. They are probably 15 years old now, and seems like every year I have one with a bad heating element or failed thermostat. Still beats lugging water in the cold though…
