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southern MN | Not much info provided, how cold where you are, how many cattle, etc.
They work well, even in my location. The important things:
Keep it lower to the ground rather than higher, as they suggest. Make the tube deep enough for your needs!
Keep the water level low in winter, the water surface reacts to windchill and freezes over faster if the wind is hitting the water.
Being exposed to full sun and having a wind break, both help it make it through a winter day.
Cattle in a yard some will come drink or nose the water every few hours causing water to move, and taking all the above together, mine could stay open at minus 20 over night minus 5 for a high.
Cattle far away in a pasture, or my case cornstalk field, might do well on the snow they consume and not come back to the waterer for 20 hours or more. Wind comes from the south east and hits the waterer, cloudy sky, the water level was a little higher than it should have been, and it can freeze over more than the cattle can nose through at 15 degrees.
Waterer is by the barn and I figure I should be checking any waterer once a day anyway, I’ve been happy with it even when it’s not set quite right or the cattle aren’t there enough.
Only once in the decades I’ve had it has it frozen solid, I forget what actually caused that there was an issue. Otherwise even if it freezes over, the bottom of the bowl and valve stay liquid, just need to break the top open.
Paul
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Cobett waterer
