Automatic watering system on cattle fattening farms

   Cattle fattening farms utilize both dead-end and ring configurations for water supply systems and their individual subsystems. While ring systems provide uniform pressure and consistent water temperature in automatic watering subsystems, they incur higher material and installation costs. Dead-end systems, conversely, are shorter and less expensive but fail to provide water circulation. This absence of circulation in cold weather can lead to water cooling or even freezing at dead ends, potentially causing pipeline damage and negatively impacting livestock health and productivity.

   This research aims to improve the design of dead-end automatic watering systems by ensuring a stable temperature mode and enhancing operational reliability.

   By systematically analyzing scientific data and existing technical solutions for livestock water supply and automatic watering, the authors developed a modernized water supply system featuring an automatic watering subsystem with a regulating tank. This subsystem, designed as a “pipe-in-a-pipe” configuration, enables periodic water circulation, maintains water temperature within specified limits, and prevents thawing. The article presents a hydraulic calculation method for determining the optimal vacuum depth in a humidifier. The calculations indicate that this “pipe-in-a-pipe” design reduces system cost by 15-20 %, improves reliability, maintains water temperature in automatic drinkers within 12-15 °C, and lowers installation and maintenance expenses by 10 %. These results will facilitate the future production of an upgraded automatic watering system and further study of its operational parameters.

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