Winter Watering Options for Your Horse Farm

Winter can make the most mundane tasks challenging. This reality is clearly illustrated when it comes to watering animals. For as long as man has worked alongside horses and livestock there have been different watering methods and their seasonal variations.
Fresh clean water is critical to good health and freezing temperatures can make providing this very difficult. During cold months the horses digestion converts feedstuffs into energy that results in body heat. This process is critical to winter survival. As animals switch from moisturerich grass to drier hay water consumption is important not only for hydration but also to keep feed moving through the digestive tract.

Icy water can be too cold to consume comfortably
Water source is completely frozen over
Animals left to survive on snow and ice
Water is too hot due to improper adjustment on heater
Water has electric current due to malfunctioning heating element
Cold water is a somewhat hidden cause of dehydration. A study out of Penn State University has shown that increasing water temperature from just above freezing to 418 degrees Celsius will increase the amount of water consumed by up to 40 percent thats A LOT. 
Inadequate water intake for sustained periods has two immediate impacts that are the starting point of bigger problems
Decreased feed intake This will have a direct impact on the animals ability to maintain body weight as well as decrease their ability to consume enough feedenergy to tolerate the cold weather.
Impaction colic If a horse doesnt consume enough water either because its frozen or its too cold for them to drink comfortably the risk of impaction colic can rise.
Waterer Options for Winter
Horse and livestock owners have many common and popular waterer options to choose from when deciding what is best for them and their animals. The primary variables that distinguish waterers are permanent versus portable and electric versus nonelectric. 
Winter Watering Electricity versus No Electricity
There is no denying that wiring electricity to automatic waterers is considered the norm in some areas. At one point it was a cutting edge breakthrough then it became the standard and now there are other alternatives to consider.
There are some definite benefits to utilizing electricity. Waterers that use electricity are typically heating water to prevent it from freezing. This means there is never any training required and implementation can be as simple as putting a heating element inside of a trough or stock tank.
The advantages of electric are its convenience quick