Livestock-operated pump watering system.

Abstract

A Livestock-operated watering system is a system designed special for livestock to provide them access to clean drinking water on the farm without human intervention. In Uganda, dairy farming is increasing due to its great benefits in terms of its products namely milk and it being highly profitable which increases the country’s economy as compared to other Agricultural practices like poultry keeping among others. However, dairy farming normally involves much labor costs in providing safe and plenty of drinking water for the animals to drink for their proper body functioning, physiological processes and high milk production, therefore if not monitored regularly, livestock can be deprived of water and this can be of great loss to the farmers. The currently existing livestock watering systems do not have an automated mechanism for providing adequate water to cattle without human intervention. This has led to decrease in the country’s economy and losses to the dairy farmers. With these challenges faced and studied into from different forms of literature and observations, a Livestock-operated pump watering system has been developed through a number of procedures, testing and evaluation done. The main aim of this system is to provide drinking water to cattle whenever they need it. In this system, four major functionalities have been achieved namely: Automatic pumping process of drinking water to livestock operated by the animal itself in form of stepping on weight sensing unit and its presence detected by sensors; Automatic detection and monitoring of water levels in the storage water tank and drinking reservoirs; automatic re-filling of water in the storage tank from a main water supply to make sure that the tank always has water stored in it ; and finally an outlet provision of waste water after cleaning the drinking reservoir. In conclusion, this system will reduce the increasing losses in dairy farming mainly in terms of labor costs and productivity.