Water on wheels - innovative farmer lead design for a portable watering point for sheep, eastern Eyre Peninsula

The Flavell Family at Gum Flat, near Cleve on eastern Eyre Peninsula, have come up with a ‘Water on Wheels’ initiative - a great idea for farmers without a permanent water source.

Father and son team, John and Josh, designed the set up with the aim of providing cool and clean water to their sheep from under the tray of the truck.

The Flavell's run merino ewes in a mixed enterprise with cropping. The 2019-2020 summer was the first time they put their innovative portable water infrastructure to use.

John is keen to spread the word, especially while much of the nation is suffering from drought.

Key points

• Initial set up costs: $2000 (minus the cost of the truck and ongoing water refill cost)
• Water supply: 300 ewes and 300 lambs are drinking about 1500L on average a week at the Flavell's property.
• Portability: Water can be shifted in when the stock are grazing and taken away just as easily.
• Grazing management considerations: The set-up works well with electric fencing set-ups, where positioning of water supply can be an issue.
• Ground cover considerations: Each time the truck is filled with water, it is placed in a different place in the paddock to avoid the effect stock have camping at the watering point of a plumbed in trough.

Check out a short 40sec video on Twitter.