Satellite Dish Makes Good Insulated Waterer Cover

Satellite Dish Makes Good Insulated Waterer Cover LIVESTOCK Feeding Equipment 33-6-27 FARM SHOW readers have found many ways to recycle old satellite dishes. Gackle, N. Dak. farmer Roger Gutschmidt has yet another take. He noticed that his unused 9-ft. dia. aluminum dish would fit perfectly on a 9-ft. dia. rubber tire water tank. "To turn it into a tank lid, I first cut a large half moon shaped hole out of the dish. I wanted the hole large enough so 2 to 3 cattle could drink at one time," he explains. "To prevent the cattle from cutting themselves on the sharp edges, I slit some 1/2-in. anhydrous ammonia hose, slipped it on and pop riveted it in place on the upper and lower edges." Gutschmidt then sprayed about 50 cans of triple expanding insulating foam on the underside of the dish. This resulted in a 4 to 5-in. layer of hard foam insulation. Then he mounted the dish to the tire with 4 by 1/4-in. lag screws. "The foam has excellent adhesion and doesn't seem to be affected by moisture," he points out. "On the straight side of the drinking hole, I attached an old piece of tire inner tube (from a 30.5 L by 32 tire) to act as a curtain that traps the heat expelled from the riser pipe in the middle of the rubber tire tank." "I saved the piece of metal I cut out for the hole so the tank can be completely covered when it's really cold like 30 or 40 degrees below. You can cover it up at night when most of the cattle aren't drinking anyway. Then, right away in the morning, you can take the cover off," says Gutschmidt. He says the neighbor he made the waterer for absolutely loves it. It's lightweight, easy to take off in the summer, and will never rust. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Gutschmidt Manufacturing LLC, Roger Gutschmidt, 6651 Hwy. 56, Gackle, N. Dak. 58442 (ph 701 698-2310; shopdoc@drtel.net).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.