Looking for some feedback on automatic heated waterers for in stalls and pasture.
Are they worth the money to put in stalls? Anyone have the solar powered ones for pasture?
My b/o put in 7 heated Nelsons outside which have been wonderful. They have been terrific in the really bad weather we’ve had in Maine this winter. Very reliable, and don’t seem to need much maintenance. We do not have them indoors.
We have one that provides water to three pens, two of which are basically run in’s.
Won’t be without an automatic waterer if we can help it.
You might consider reading Horse keeping on small acreage by Cherry Hill. It is available on kindle, too. Lots of good layout ideas and considerations there.
I would think hard before sacrificing prime pasture area on 10 acres. You will want to be able to rotate / rest paddocks to avoid erosion and mud problems, among other things.
We have Nelson automatic waterers in the stalls, and have them heated in outdoor paddocks. They are one of the best investments we’ve made in the barn. They are reliable, easy to use, and the horses are still drinking plenty in the cold weather. No chipping ice, no super cold water, easy to clean. No freezing even with the polar vortex.
In fact, one of my ponies was poor drinker when he was at boarding barns. Now at home with our Nelson waterers, he is now one of the bigger drinkers, because he always has fresh water available.
Some people have concerns about monitoring how much they drink. We have Nelson consumption monitors for every stall and they have worked out well. Having the waterers saves a LOT of time working in the barn and you never have to worry about them running out of water.
I have Nelsons in my stalls. I really have liked them…eight years and counting. I also have a big heated water trough, though, as back-up just in case. My horses seem to like both.
I’ve had Nelsons for many years and have been very happy with them.
Another happy Nelson customer. The first lasted 30 years. Installation is critical for them to work in super cold weather, but if you do it right, they are very low maintenance.
We have 3 that service 5 pastures. I would never be without again. A friend has the outdoor ones in her barn and each one serves 2 stalls. Makes life so much easier as we get 6 months of winter up here.
We have Nelson in our paddocks they were there when we bought this farm over 10 years ago and I think they have been there close to 20. It is the ONLY thing on the farm that I have never had to fix or bother with. Even after being without power for more than a week last winter, sub-freezing temps every day. When the power came back on so did they. It is very important they are installed correctly. Ours are installed in a concrete pipe the same I have seen on many well run farms. It was the ONLY thing on this farm that was done correctly. I would use no other brand. There are other decent ones out there but I hear people have problems with them from time to time. Nelson are all metal and have stood the test of time with weather and lots of horses.
I hear the same with their stall waterers. If we ever find the money to gut and remodel our barn I will put them in. Too much of a PITA to do correctly and expensive to do with existing infrastructure.
When asked what is the number one priority when building and or adding to an existing farm? Don’t even have to think, Auto waterers! To every paddock and field. In the barn also if is affordable. Under water conditions they are much more cost efficient then tank heaters. They save tons on labor expenses and hassle.
Even more so if you do all the work yourself.
I put in Nelsons this fall outside and while expensive, they are one of the best investments I have made recently work-wise. No breaking ice, nice warm water for the horses – they make a beeline for it when I put them out after breakfast and all go take a long drink. The prefer the Nelsons to their heated buckets in their stalls once they got used to them, which took a couple of weeks.
I put one in the fenceline between two fields, which really cuts down on expense because you can water two fields with one waterer. we built a “cage” around it to protect it and make sure the horses don’t test the gap in the fence. That has been working really well.
You do have to keep an eye on the flow sometimes, I have one that is a little finicky and I have to make tiny adjustments after weather changes, but that takes two seconds and a flat screwdriver, no big deal. I just watch the refill after I dump and clean the bowl, which I do every morning. That one gets dirty because one of my horses wears a muzzle in that field. The two other fields don’t get dirty at all really and I clean them every three days or so and just eyeball them daily.
Heated Nelsons in 4 stalls and one outside…set into the fenceline to serve both paddocks at once like fordtraktor’s.
And one frost-free hydrant right outside the barn. When we built the horse facilities here…I scrimped on other things to make sure the two most important things were done right: water and electric. And for water my stipulation was “weather-proof only” and “I ain’t lugging water or smashing ice for the rest of my life.”
Love love love my Nelsons! They are pricier than other auto-waterers…but for a reason. They work, they’re efficient, they last forever and they’re extremely low maintenance. And boy howdy can they take a beating! Heck, I use the stall ones like a step ladder sometimes. 
11 years going strong here.
Friends of mine have multiple outdoor ones 30+ years and going strong on a couple different dairy farms.
My only two issues with the outside ones:
When everything is frozen solid in winter, there’s a traffic jam at that one as wildlife lines up for warm drinks.
There are 4 crows that LOVE to play with it, in it, etc all year long. They wash and drop worms, bugs, garbage, dog food, etc in it. I once found car keys in it and clothespins.
Our waterers haven’t been Nelsons but they’ve worked just as well, FWIW. The one we have now is some little local brand. We’ve had a Ritchie in the past and one old old old one that was solid metal and worked like a champ. It held up well to the old mare that likes to paw at waterers. It was $1 at an auction. :lol:
And yes, we get a lot of birds in the waterers! Ours are too close to the buildings for any animals to come in but definitely we have all the birds in the area.
I have a Miraco Lil Spring in three pastures and a Ritchie in another. I can’t imagine not having a heated automatic waterer available. I probably was scarred from a childhood of heaving water buckets around. I don’t stall my horses unless for short term holding or a veterinary lay-up. I just use regular buckets with heated bucket available if needed in the winter.
I could not imagine owning my farm without automatic waterers. They were the first thing I put in. Anything you can do to reduce the amount of labor on your farm is a valuable thing.
We have the larger supply 6’ to 12’ water troughs with automatic valves for our horses and break ice in them in the winter.
Even if the well quits, horses have water for several days.
All horses love to drink out of those, when we had other little waterers they just would pass by those to go drink out of the big troughs.
We have friends with the small automatic ones with heaters and they have trouble with those, of different brands, regularly.
I think that, even for those with the little bowl waterers, you need a big trough outside you can walk your horse by every time you take it out and give it a chance to drink from it.
Places that have such always told me they wondered how much horses really drank from the little bowls, because they sure tanked up at the big troughs.
I wish someone would run good studies on what horses really prefer.
[QUOTE=Bluey;8001222]
We have the larger supply 6’ to 12’ water troughs with automatic valves for our horses and break ice in them in the winter.
Even if the well quits, horses have water for several days.
All horses love to drink out of those, when we had other little waterers they just would pass by those to go drink out of the big troughs.
We have friends with the small automatic ones with heaters and they have trouble with those, of different brands, regularly.
I think that, even for those with the little bowl waterers, you need a big trough outside you can walk your horse by every time you take it out and give it a chance to drink from it.
Places that have such always told me they wondered how much horses really drank from the little bowls, because they sure tanked up at the big troughs.
I wish someone would run good studies on what horses really prefer.[/QUOTE]
We have yet to have any problems with horses drinking as much as they want out of those “little bowls”. They fill quickly, horses figure it out, drink the gallon or so that’s in it, lift their head for a “break” and then drink some more. When first “introduced” they can be a little surprised by the sound of the water filling the bowl but get used to it quickly. No different then filling a bucket by hose in a stall. If they are thirsty they will still go for it with the hose running. I have yet to find a dumb horse stricken with dehydration in the paddock.
The most horses we have in one paddock is 5, they just line up in their
established “pecking order”. Foals learn to use them with no problem.
IMO when installing waterers hydrants should be installed also as a matter of course also. The odd times we lose power we just hook a generator to the supply well and fill tanks.
We installed an Equispring waterer in a pasture that has 12-15 in it. I like the design, the amount of water can be adjusted, from a few gallons to 20+. Several horses can drink at one time. It is cone shaped and high enough a horse cannot play in it. It uses a 250 watt heater which cuts done on electric considerably. But does “struggle” to keep the surface free of ice on very cold and windy days. Still in the “testing faze” before I replace 80 gallon tanks and 1500 watt heaters with more of them. Around $550 each
In our neck of the woods, Mid-Atlantic I have seen and worked with Nelson waterers for as long as I can remember. I never heard any complaints. AS far as I am concerned they are the “yard stick” for our normal weather conditions. And our winters are not mild.
The only time I’ve wished we had a big tank was when we would get home from a pack trip and turn all 6-8 horses out at once and they all tried to drink at once. But nobody has shown any sign of dehydration at all, ever. No colic, no thirsties.
Totally different climate here too though, at least half the year the big tank is a big block of ice.
My current farm has them in all of the turnouts and pastures as well as in every stall. They are Nelson. I will be the lone voice of dissent and say that I have had a bunch of problems with them, BBBBUUUUTTTT I don’t know how they were maintained prior to my arrival, so I’m not sure it’s a fair statement to say that they are problematic. In stalls, I have some hay dunkers and that causes all sorts of issues. I’ve also had a bunch of flow issues where the float valve didn’t shut off and they just run and run. They are pretty simply put together so you can work on them and fix them, which is a huge plus.
We are currently building a new farm while living on this one and we will install Nelsons outdoors. In the stalls, I am not going to do it, but I will have a heated, insulated barn so frozen buckets isn’t a big deal for my new setup. If I didn’t have a barn that would be an ambient temp, I would probably put them in the barn too for ease. That said, when an automatic waterer goes wrong, it can go wrong big time - think flooded barn. Judging from all of the above comments, Nelson is a reliable brand and I will say they are well made.
I didn’t think I would survive without one in the pasture, but it has been a total non-issue. I have no problem with freezing even when it is below zero (dual thermostat heater in the stock tank) and my frost free and electric are just a few feet away. A couple places I boarded they had issues with them flooding, which I don’t have to worry about. I built my fence so my tank services two pastures.
I was still convinced I wanted one, and then last week I was talking to friends and one said her Ritchie added about $100 a month to her electric bill! Can anyone comment on that? Did you find them much more expensive or cheaper than just a tank and heater to run in the winter? I had always assumed they would be cheaper…
[QUOTE=TrotTrotPumpkn;8001565]
I was still convinced I wanted one, and then last week I was talking to friends and one said her Ritchie added about $100 a month to her electric bill! Can anyone comment on that? Did you find them much more expensive or cheaper than just a tank and heater to run in the winter? I had always assumed they would be cheaper…[/QUOTE]
$100 a month for ONE unit??? I have over 12 Nelsons on my property (all heated) and I don’t think it costs me $100 to run all of them! In fact, my barn is on a separate electric account and my bill is under $300 with indoor arena lights, barn lights, etc.
