Livestock Prefer Clean

Research shows cattle prefer water pumped out of a creek and into a trough; according to the SunStream Solar website, a company founded in 2019 by Karsten Penner and Gary Klassen of Ste. Anne, MB.

“Eighty per cent of the time the cattle would walk to the trough for water versus going into the creek which had no fencing,” said Penner. “In addition, they would often walk farther to drink from the trough rather than the creek which offered the same water.”

At his booth at the recent Manitoba Ag Ex in Brandon, MB co-owner Karsten Penner said their company designs and manufactures solar watering systems for livestock, primarily and some for irrigation.

“We can set up any solar system for pasture pipelines, dugouts and wells,” said Penner.

SunStream Solar manufactures a portable pond system. The system pumps water from a pond into a portable trough. It makes it easier for rotational grazers to move it from one paddock to the next, saving a lot of time.

The trough holds 275 Imperial gallons with a battery box to allow for pumping after dark because solar is only good during the day. Solar energy charges the batteries and the pumps run directly off the batteries. Penner said there’s a little pull switch in the trough that controls the water level and a narrow-angle pull switch to keep the trough as full as possible.

“When the animals start drinking it kicks the pump on to keep up with the demand and makes sure everybody goes away with a full belly,” he said.

The pump floats in the pond or the well including the hose. He said it’’ important to put a fence around the pond and hose so the cattle don’t trample the equipment.

Karsten and his partner Gary Klassen have livestock and manufacturing experience. They saw the need for this, especially in Manitoba.

“There wasn’t anybody that made anything like our solar pump and other matching equipment in Manitoba,” said Penner. “It’’ growing, and we ship across Canada and into the United States.”

While targeting the cattle industry primarily, they also receive requests for irrigators since it’s all the same pump and solar system which makes it easy to adapt to different needs, even drinking water for cottages.

He emphasized that while installing solar panels at cottages, they will only wire part of the cottage up with solar.

“If you need drinking water at your little cottage and have a well, we’ll put a little solar system up for your drinking water but won’t wire your cottage up with solar<’ said Penner. “We draw the line because we are in the solar water pumping business, which is what we do.”

While the sun needs to shine for solar to work a popular misconception is that solar doesn’t work when it’s cloudy. Penner said it does work when it’’ cloudy, just at a reduced rate. He said even a cloudy or light overcast day still produces quite a bit of solar energy. Solar energy is also still available later in the year like September or October.

He said that the system receives a good dose of sunlight during the summer and then by late fall to winter the amount of sunlight becomes less and less.

Penner said if people have an interest in solar pumping, to make sure to check for various funding programs from local watersheds, government and Ducks Unlimited.

“There are several programs for livestock producers to access funding for these systems, and they should consider looking into those funding programs before purchasing a solar system,” said Penner.

By Harry Siemens

Hannah Thompson-Weeman, Animal Agriculture Alliance (AAA) president and CEO said there are many issues in animal activism. Hannah shared the results of a series of reports from five major animal rights

2022 that showcase these animal activist groups’ efforts, their strategies and tactics, and what the animal agriculture community needs to know.

“Several trends for Animal Ag to know about first are that activists continue to call for ‘undercover videos’ to put together what they claim is evidence of animal cruelty on farms. But, of course, we know those undercover video campaigns are unrealistic.”

They do not depict reality, and if there are animal welfare concerns, report and address them immediately, not filmed and used for a PR campaign. Instead, activists want to see those used in court.

There is a call from activists who use more emotions in their campaigns, starting with children in new organizations to compete with groups like 4H and FFA and reach children with animal rights messaging to bring them into the movement.

The last trend is increased political engagement, where activists get involved in the political arena and pressure elected officials to include animal rights in their political campaigns so they can bring their cause to the legislature.

“So those are a few major trends from the activist conferences we followed in 2022.”

Voters passed by ballot Proposition 12 in California, requiring producers in California and anyone across the country producing a protein sold in California to comply with specific regulations about animal housing. Particularly about cages for laying hens, individual housing for veal calves and gestation stalls for pork, the main issue of concern for many in the animal agriculture community.

The many challenges on that ballot initiative focused on whether it is constitutional for voters in California to pass a law that affects hog producers in North Carolina, Iowa, and other places across the country. As a result, the US Supreme Court heard extensive oral arguments last fall.

“They focused more on the constitutionality issue than talking about animal welfare but the precedent that it sets to interstate commerce if voters in one state, again, can pass regulations that impact producers in another when those producers didn’t have a chance to be involved in the process.”

The industry expects the Supreme Court will release that decision early this year. So certainly all of animal agriculture is staying tuned and it will set a precedent either way whether Prop 12 will stay or get overturned.

The AAA also follows Question 3 in Massachusetts, almost identical to Proposition 12 passed a few years later, but applies to not only producers in Massachusetts but producers across the country. Unfortunately, the court challenge of Proposition 12 is holding up Question 3 extending the deadline, and not fully implementing it until they see the result of Prop 12.

“It is so similar that whatever the outcome of the Proposition 12 challenge is, that would affect Question 3 in Massachusetts.”

Activists in Oregon are back in the signature-gathering phase for the 2024 ballot on an animal cruelty initiative, but it’s very extreme. It would reclassify many animal husbandry practices as animal cruelty, including processing animals for food.

“So you can still eat them, but they must die of natural causes. Otherwise, you are guilty of animal cruelty. Don’t expect it to pass, but it will be out there and driving a conversation that will be a concern.”

Hannah said introducing these outlandish campaigns is also an intentional strategy of activist groups called mainstreaming. The initiative is outlandish and extreme but getting ready for people to accept something more reasonable than the very outlandish thing they passed before, with the hope that everyone will compromise and pass the watered-down version that again, is still problematic for animal agriculture.

She cautioned farmers and the industry to watch for farm and plant incidents where they will try to film these undercover videos and hold protests to advance the legislation they’re trying to pass.

“We need to monitor visitors, be careful with hiring, and being vigilant for these activist tactics that happen to us on our farms, in our plants, making sure our employees are informed, and our neighbours are aware of potential issues so they can help be our eyes and ears.”