We took over our family ranch back in 2015. We've had decent success with it, but have been blessed with decent rains. My husband came from a farming background, so we've been able to deal with most issues that have come up.

One issue we are having is now is in regards to the tanks. The water level is so low on one of our deeper tanks that the ground around the edge is now thick, dangerous mud. We have had a cow get stuck and it is apparent that its going to be an issue with at least one of our tanks. The mud is like quicksand around the edge. Other than keeping them out of that pasture with the tank, are there any options or tricks we maybe aren't thinking of?

Thanks for any help or advice.

I don't have the answer to this, but do have the same problem. Interested in hearing what the OB has to say.

Fence around them if you have another water source in that pasture. There is little that you can do in the short term.

Snow Monkey Ambassador said:

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I don't have the answer to this, but do have the same problem. Interested in hearing what the OB has to say.

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Not much you can do other than pray for rain.

If you leave the cattle in, probably best to check it multiple times a day because it doesn't take long for one that is stuck to get in bad shape.

Other than haul fresh water to them I got nothing.
Make sure to check the tank often. If they struggle in that mud it does not take long for fatigue to set in. We never had much luck with survival rates after that stress.

If they're skinny cows and the mud is a problem, then what you need to do is drive over to Church street, roll down the window on your pick up truck just enough to be heard but not enough to let any of the air conditioning escape, and ask Robert Keen to come help you for a minute.

Could you blade a path down to the water and fence the rest of the way around so the cattle can't get to the mud?

Seems like a shallow well and windmill / solar pump to keep the water level constant is the better option. Or just move the cattle out of that pasture.

Fence them out. Lost a high dollar cow, former show heifer, earlier this year. Water trough tied into county water, or hauling water to them would have been much cheaper -- and easier on my daughter -- than losing that cow.

Trough + trash pump. Fill trough with pond water. Fence around the pond. Get big enough trough to last between the times you're able to fill it up. If you cant do it often, do you have a neighbor that would be willing to do it?

Next to impossible unless you fence off tank.

A good friend of our family ranches along the banks of the Rio Grande at Amistad. He said until the lake came up they lost 50 ewes in the mud due to not being able to keep them from chasing their water source and green weeds popping up in the never ending mud.

Like others said, check tanks multiple times a day.

You need to fence all the way around the tank to keep cattle off the banks. This allows thicker cover to grow that allows quail and other wildlife species to feel more comfortable about using it as a water source. It also allows the thicker vegetation to "filter" the incoming water so you don't overload the tank with organic material in cases of a fast hard rain which bring in a lot of water at once.

Do some thinking and planning for this design: Create a "lane or alley" with a fence going down to the water and into the water so that it limits where the cattle can access the water. Do NOT put the lane in the same place as where most of the water comes in, this area is usually very boggy to start with and won't solve your problem. Also, don't put it on a steep part of the dam as it will cause undo erosion to the dam. You want it as small as possible, but large enough so several animals can access the water and not "freak out" while traversing the lane and tear down the fence. You want it to go down into the water so animals cannot go around the end of it and graze the protected area or get stuck in the mud in those areas. You should put some base material or rocks down in the lane where the mud is an issue to give the cattle good footing without sinking.

The overall idea is to limit where the cattle can water out of the tank with a safe footing, but limit the grazing around the tank to limit their access to the mud but also give a boost the the wildlife that use it for water by making sure they have adequate cover.

This is not exactly the way I would do it, but gives the general idea. I would use a fence like what is around the pasture so the cattle are familiar with it and won't challenge it as much. (I wouldn't use the electric fence as in the article.) My brother has done this on the family ranch and it has made a world of difference in the variety of wildlife around the tank.

http://www.angusbeefbulletin.com/extra/2017/07jul17/0717mg_pond-access.html#.Yz73bUzMKM8

As others have said you need to fence them out and then use a float water inlet system to gravity flow the water below the dam to a permanent waterer. However in the short term you could string up a single strand of electric wire or electric fence tape which would keep them out until the permanent solution could be found.

ldg397 said:

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As others have said you need to fence them out and then use a float water inlet system to gravity flow the water below the dam to a permanent waterer. However in the short term you could string up a single strand of electric wire or electric fence tape which would keep them out until the permanent solution could be found.

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This seems like the best option.

Instead of a trough you could even do a concrete guzzler / pond below the tank with a gravity fed float.

thank you

We had a cow we had to put down after pulling her out of one of our stock tanks. She couldn't get up and we didn't want to leave her to the fate of the coyotes, which would have found her that night.

We found a cow bogged in the mud in one of our tanks. Got the tractor with front end loader and some hip lifters and drug her out.

Two hours later there was another cow in the same spot.
We did the same and then moved them to another pasture.

Thankfully it rained and filled the tank back up.

Otherwise, that's a mess. I think the previous suggestions are right about fencing them out and finding another water source.

It was fully, while pulling the second cow out, the first one came back for a drink, still covered in mud, and she would walk to the edge of the mud and stretch her neck out to reach the water and then move to another spot and try again. She had definitely learned a lesson about walking into the mud.

Thanks for everyone's advice. We are able to keep the cattle out of all of the tanks on our property but one. We ended up going with an electric fence for that tank. It was pretty easy to install. Luckily, the cattle have access to fresh water troughs, although that water bill is going to stink for a while!