Misfitmorgan's Journal - That Summer Dust

[Latestarter]

Kinda surprised that you didn't extend the fences a little in pasture #3 & #4 so that a small area of the pond was included inside the fence line. Perhaps that way you could avoid having to pipe/haul water to those pastures. Looks great though!

 

[misfitmorgan]

Very well thought out! Just a matter of funds and resources now. you will have access to both to accomplish this project in the near future.

Thank you!
Just time and money....I'm sure i will have loads of that ...eventually...like at 80 perhaps.

Kinda surprised that you didn't extend the fences a little in pasture #3 & #4 so that a small area of the pond was included inside the fence line. Perhaps that way you could avoid having to pipe/haul water to those pastures. Looks great though!

It's illegal to water livestock from surface or moving water here. The big pond is actually a stream/pond type of thing that dries up in the summer with some wetland type area around it that the livestock would destroy.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Oh course we also dont want livestock in the shooting gallery...that would be bad lmao

 

[greybeard]

It's illegal to water livestock from surface or moving water here. The big pond is actually a stream/pond type of thing that dries up in the summer with some wetland type area around it that the livestock would destroy.

I've seen this discussed elsewhere. It's not completely and flat out illegal. Evidently, there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of farm ponds in Michigan being used directly by and for livestock watering. You just have to meet certain standards or criteria, which is pretty much the case in many states.

 

[misfitmorgan]

I've seen this discussed elsewhere. It's not completely and flat out illegal. Evidently, there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of farm ponds in Michigan being used directly by and for livestock watering. You just have to meet certain standards or criteria, which is pretty much the case in many states.

I know part of the criteria is it can not be moving/flowing surface water, there must be a liner, there is testing thats required every so often, etc...basically it would not be a cheap way to water livestock for us. There is also the issue of not being able/allowed to re-work wetland type areas without special permits. The back of the property is wet which is why we do not plan on using it for livestock.

 

[misfitmorgan]

It is possible we could siphon water from the ponds or moving water thru a one way value into a stock tank or something and allow the livestock to use it but the expense for the trade off wouldnt really be worth it between the pumps and filters that would be needed plus maintenance and we still couldnt use any of it in the winter.

 

[Bruce]

Oh course we also dont want livestock in the shooting gallery...that would be bad lmao

Isn't that called a hunting preserve?

 

[greybeard]

I'm glad Texas doesn't do that. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say there's probably 20,000 head of livestock grazing the banks of the little San Jacinto River alone (same river that makes my East property boundary), and that river is impounded 26 miles downstream to form Lake Houston..City of Houston's drinking water supply. Add in the 15,000 sq mile watershed of the Trinity River, which is also impounded by Lake Livingston as a secondary source of drinking water for the Greater Houston area, and it's pretty accurate to say over 1/2 the 11,000,000 cows in Texas are either drinking from it, peeing in it, or poohing in it. I have never seen a single farm or ranch in Texas that doesn't have at least one stock pond and the overflow from all of them drains into one or another of the rivers or their tributaries.
If we want to dig a stock pond here, all we need is something to dig with.

 

[misfitmorgan]

I'm glad Texas doesn't do that. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say there's probably 20,000 head of livestock grazing the banks of the little San Jacinto River alone (same river that makes my East property boundary), and that river is impounded 26 miles downstream to form Lake Houston..City of Houston's drinking water supply. Add in the 15,000 sq mile watershed of the Trinity River, which is also impounded by Lake Livingston as a secondary source of drinking water for the Greater Houston area, and it's pretty accurate to say over 1/2 the 11,000,000 cows in Texas are either drinking from it, peeing in it, or poohing in it. I have never seen a single farm or ranch in Texas that doesn't have at least one stock pond and the overflow from all of them drains into one or another of the rivers or their tributaries.
If we want to dig a stock pond here, all we need is something to dig with.

I'm just going to count my blessings that I dont have to drink water from Houston. We are not allowed to do that here, DEQ would have your A** and you would be reported so fast your head would spin. Keeping the Great Lakes "clean and clear" is a huge part of living in michigan and everyone pretty much thinks it is part of their responsibility. We want to keep our wildlife, our hunting, our tourism, our lakes, etc which means paying attention to what goes directly into the lakes, woods, wetlands, etc.

 

[Baymule]

I like the way you have your fence laid out. Ours just kinda went up with no master plan, but it all works. We spent over $10K fencing 8 acres into 4 pastures, a garden and back yard.