Hi Virginia, >>>We have well water at the farm. I, being a city girl, haven't even thought of power outages and wells...great....another thing to think about and consider. Do I need a generator?
We have a similar waterer and it works well most of the time. Sometimes if it is too cold and the horses aren't drinking enough then the valve will freeze and so the tank doesn't fill up so you have to pour hot water into it to melt the bit of frost. But for the most part they are great and so much easier in the winter than hauling out hoses and worrying about the water getting too low so that the stock heater doesn't burn out. Also the waterer you are looking at looks like it is designed for just a couple of horses to drink from so they would take in to account how often they would drink - in terms of the valve freezing. I would just ask to what temperature it has been tested and see if you can talk to someone in your area who has one. We don't have a generator and have lived here for nearly 20 years and lived in EDMONTON forever before that without a generator - I say Edmonton loudly for those other Cdns on the list that know how cold it can be. Nearly as cold as Wanda's place :)) One thing is that most of the time in the winter if the power does go out there is usually snow which, while you don't want a horse to rely on snow for water at least they have something should the power be out for a while. And as Wanda says - they do work quickly to get the power back on. Until a few years ago we used a heated water trough for our herds and actually found that they drank less water in the winter than they did in the summer, as long as there was snow. Your life will definitely be easier with an automatic waterer, just be sure to check it daily as you would any other source of water. Robyn Icelandic Horse Farm Robyn Hood & Phil Pretty Vernon BC Canada www.icefarm.com
