Checking your flow on World Water Day

Water leaks on farm can account for hours of lost time and an estimated 26% of stock drinking water.

Having water available to livestock allows for optimal animal performance and health. Dry matter intake is directly related to water intake, and the less an animal drinks, the less feed it will consume. This leads to reduced weight gains, milk production, and animal performance.

Product Manager, Brian Rose, said: “World Water Day (22^nd March) is as a great opportunity to check for any water leaks on your farm. 

“With animals grazing in remote locations, it often means water sources and tanks are not located close by and so a network of pipes runs to the areas where required, making finding leaks extremely challenging. If any pipes leak it can take a while to find and litres of water could be lost before you realise.”

Farmer and Gallagher customer, Kane Brisco, said: “Often you don’t know there’s a leak until it’s too late. You could have pumped 20,000 litres of water into the ground before you know it and it takes a long time to come back from that.”

Murray Jones, a former farmer and now wool buyer for Carrfields in Gisborne, understood the frustration of finding leaks and so developed the award-winning Water Flow Indicator together with Gallagher Animal Management.

Brian continued: “The brilliantly simple practicality of the Gallagher Water Flow Indicator helps farmers identify system leaks, monitor water flow at a glance, and helps farmers to ensure they don’t lose huge amounts of this precious farm asset.”

50/50 sharemilker, Colin Beazley, said “It puts my mind at ease when we have the right gear in place, especially last summer with the big drought as we supplied water to many surrounding farms.”