The Water Tank

Last week I picked up a commercial hog waterer.  I paid $75 for it.  With the frustrations mounting on our homemade waterer (it continues to leak despite two caulk/tar jobs), I figured I needed something dependable.  At the $75 price, I felt like I was getting a decent deal.

Well, with that price came a little bit of work.  The hog farmer told me he hadn't used it in years (and then proceeded to tell me of his vitriol for all large farm corporations, but that's a different story).  But the gist was that the small farmer has yet again been pushed out by "the big boys."  All the more reason to raise little pigs on a small farm!

The hog waterer stored in the three-sided barn.  The owner tried to sell me his feeders, too, but they were in pretty rough shape!

It was used but looked functional!

The tank is made by Pride of the Farm and holds a whopping 85 gallons.

I headed over to Mom and Dad's house to use their power washer as the inside was filthy.  The unit had been stored underneath an overhang of an old pig barn, but it had obviously been sitting for a long time.  It was diiiiiiiiirty.

The inside of the tank as I acquired it!

The dirty water coming out after spraying the inside.  Yuck!

I figured a quick power wash would do the trick.  I WAS SO WRONG.  The black grime was literally embedded into the poly material.  It wouldn't budge with a power washer.  I had to get steel wool and scrub EVERY square inch on the inside of the tank, a feat not too easy to do.  My hands wouldn't reach the bottom of the tank, so I had to use a piece of wood with the steel wool on the end.  It was tough!

The tank was super dirty.

The tank was filthy on the inside and required hard manual labor to fix!

Notice the dark rim at the bottom!  That was as far as my hand could reach!

But slowly I started to see a difference.  The black mold and mildew and dirt and grime started changing to the color of the poly tank.  It was tedious, but it was working.

I flipped it over, and I'm not sure what I am seeing.  It looks like mice have chewed away the bottom.  Ugh.  I just can't win!  There is ALWAYS a danger in buying used, but this is crazy!  I saw chew marks all over the bottom of the tank with a few holes.  I actually thought it was ruined.  I just couldn't figure out what the holes went to.

Look at those big holes!

The bottom of the tank.  It should have two circular holes for drains.  As you can see, it was five!  Three are from some sort of creature EATING away at the plastic.  Little chew marks everywhere.

After I finally got the tank to what I deemed as clean, I loaded it up and headed for the farm.

The tank cleaned up nicely!

The tank cleaned up nicely.  This is clean for pigs!

Oh, so fresh, and clean!

Once at the farm, I lifted it over the fence and filled it up.  The pigs were QUICK learners!  I mean, they are so curious to begin with, but they were drinking out of this instantly!  It didn't come with a lid, so I used the old concrete lid from the grain bin.  It fit perfectly!

Quick learners!

The pigs went right to it!

Unfortunately, I saw a little water pooling around the edges.  I presumed it was coming from a loose rubber plug in the bottom of the unit.  So I grabbed a wooden handle and pushed the rubber disc down tighter.  I pushed too hard, I guess, as the disc went right through the hole!  I heard a sudden "WHOOSH" and was suddenly standing in water.  I had filled it up with the full 85 gallons, and it emptied in less than a minute.  Ugh.

The water tank in the pasture!  Look how muddy it is already!  The pigs were all over it!  The water on the ground is from me pushing the drain plug all the way through the hole.

I plugged it back up and re-filled it again.

It looks to be a good addition to the raising of pigs.  And here is the reason why I chose to buy it...I just can't seem to get our homemade waterer to stop leaking!

The homemade waterer hasn't been cooperating very well.