A solar watering system was installed to service Mr. Daniel Fleshman’s herd of 25 cow-calf pairs. Previously the cattle watered from the headwaters of Beaver Creek, a wild trout stream. The stream access was located in a marshy area, which not only resulted in abundant siltation from the disturbed bank, but also represented a tremendous health and safety hazard to the cattle. The farmer reports that it was not uncommon for young calves to get stuck in the mud and need rescued; several animals had previously gotten stuck and died. Even the cattle that watered successfully had to wade through belly-deep mud to return to the pasture.

The solar watering system used a 100 watt PV panel paired with a 2.5 gallon/minute, 12 v Sureflow surface pump to send water approximately 150 feet to a series of IBC tanks mounted on an old wagon. Water then gravity-flowed from the IBC reservoir to a 300-gallon stock trough. Total dynamic head was about 15 feet. The system worked well all summer long until about early-December, at which point the reduced solar resource was not adequate to run the pump as needed. A simple spring-fed gravity system has now been installed. The solar watering system provided an important source of water during a transition period on this rental property by enabling time for the tenant and the neighboring farmer (who owns the spring used by the new gravity system) to work out a use agreement for the spring.