Lifting rolling water barrels to empty them into trough?

[HollyWoozle]

Our ponies’ paddock is a little far to reach from the house by hose pipe but we have been using one of those 40l rolling water barrels. However it is killing my mum (and me when I’m around) to lift the barrel up to the edge of the water trug to pour it in.

Does anybody have any ingenious solutions to this please? My partner suggested some kind of battery powered pump, not sure how that would work exactly but I’ll look into it. Long term we will have to lay more pipes but I just wondered how other people do it.

Thank you!

 

[Surbie]

It might be making things a bit convoluted, but could you fill the barrels while they are in a wheelbarrow, push to the trough and use a siphon like this one to get most of the water out till the barrel is liftable?

 

[teapot]

Some form of foldaway ramp so you can just roll them up to above trough height and then let gravity do the rest?

 

[Pinkvboots]

I'm sure you can get large water butt's or containers with a hose attachment, so you could fill that at a halfway point from your field then run a hose from the container to your trough.

 

[foxy1]

How about a wheelbarrow water bag? Depending on the height of your trough

 

[Timelyattraction]

How about something like this? https://gsequestrian.co.uk/products...D_BcDMfetKyfDgPdvqFTn0zU2dat2Y2YaAtHUEALw_wcB

 

[Timelyattraction]

Poster above just beat me to it

 

[dorsetladette]

How about a wheelbarrow water bag? Depending on the height of your trough

I've used these successfully in a few different situations

Or could you put something next to the trough, like a bale or something so you lit the barrel on to it and then it self empties from there. You would only have to lift it once and then not hold it while it emptied - would that make it easier.

 

[cauda equina]

Have a bucket by the water trug and decant the water from the barrel bit by bit, into the bucket and then into the barrel

I had a H2Go, it was a pig! as in H2Goeseverywherebutwhereyouwantit

 

[meleeka]

Your OH was probably thinking of one of these.

Amazon.co.uk

I’ve used one to empty a trough before. OH just put crocodile clips on the end and I connected to a car battery.

 

[foxy1]

I used H2Go, it worked well for a low trough- I had an extra large plaster's bath

 

[poiuytrewq]

How about a wheelbarrow water bag? Depending on the height of your trough

I had one of these and was convinced it would be useless and just slide out when the barrow was tipped, They don't! I was really impressed and was able to just pour straight into my trough in the field.
The only issue i had was if you fill it to capacity its seriously heavy to push so best just 3/4 full.

 

[nagblagger]

I would just get extra hose if it was permanent/long term set up, run it round the field boundary.
(Once your back has 'gone' you will always have problems no mater how careful you are.)

 

[LEC]

Amazon.co.uk

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

Can't you just stand the barrel up, (after rolling it to the trough) put a hose in then suck the other end of the hose and pop it in the trough?

 

[Polos Mum]

Can't you just stand the barrel up, (after rolling it to the trough) put a hose in then suck the other end of the hose and pop it in the trough?

I too was going to suggest syphoning it in - won't be quick but less back breaking.

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

I too was going to suggest syphoning it in - won't be quick but less back breaking.

That was the word I was struggling to remember!!

 

[Redders]

I have the same situation so I’ve just Daisy chained a load of hoses to make a long one, goes like 300m! Works great. When there is a freeze I fill up rolling water buckets, wrap them in an old rug, then siphon the water in rather than lift them

 

[MissTyc]

I installed semi-permanent blue piping so that I can plug in at the tap and then essentially it gives me a semi-permanent outlet by the fields, where I plug in another hose to get to wherever I want the water to be. It takes quite a long time for the water to appear by the fields, but once it runs, it's steady and reliable flow. I highly recommend rigging up hoses/pipes/etc, and forget about the barrels

 

[Burnttoast]

I used to fill a barrow (non-leaking one obviously) with what I could comfortably push and float a couple of trugs on top (reduces splash), then tip into trough. But that depends how smooth the surfaces are. I can push it across our small field without losing much but we don't have poached land.

 

[suestowford]

You might find two 20l containers in a wheel barrow easier to deal with than one 40l one. Or perhaps on a sledge, with all the mud there is right now!
We have 20l barrels and they are not too hard to lift. You can rest one on the other while you pour out so you only have to lift them up, not hold them while you pour.

 

[PeterNatt]

Why not Mole Drill a 25mm pipe from the house to the paddock and have an automatic Paxton plastic water trough?

 

[Equi]

A petrol syphon will work just fine.

 

[Pedantic]

Pole in the ground, with a peice of hosepipe into bottom of barrel, hose over top of pole, hose back down over tub, hose coming down needs to be longer than section going in barrel, (a siphon need's a long leg and a short leg), suck the end until water comes out, point over tub, it will siphon the water from the barrel into the tub.

 

[Esmae]

I have run hosepipes all over my fields. Works just fine. To blazes with carting and lifting water containers. Just extend the hosepipe OP. It might take a while to flow but at least you won't wreck your back or your mum's back.

 

[HollyWoozle]

Thank you for all these fantastic ideas! I will go through them all and see what will suit best. Lots of great ideas here, I appreciate it

 

[spotty_pony2]

Have you got tap you can connect a few hosepipes to to save your back?

 

[Nasicus]

Another one for the 'lots and lots of horse pipes' approach. We didn't have amazing water pressure, but it still worked to get water where it needed to go without any backbreaking lifting and shifting. I've left a yard in the past due to that issue.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Or, and this is what I now currently have but you need a farmer/tractor to move it.
An IBC water container in the corner of a field up on pallets so you can stick a trough under its tap and fill.
My OH was bringing it back and fore to fill, only every few months but now we have a huge hose that fills it once a month or so and it stays in place. ( the IBC)
It means we don’t have to leave the hose out all the time ( it has to cross a quiet road!) but that I can do it myself if he’s not able.