Revisiting Tire Waterers - part 1

We have been using tire water tanks at Eden Shale Farm for 4 years and they continue to be one of the best options available for watering livestock efficiently. They hold a large volume of water, they keep the water cool in the summer, a large number of cattle can drink at one time, and they are indestructible. 

Over the next few weeks, we will be revisiting our tire waterers in 3 separate blog posts. 

We started using tire waterers back in 2014 and now have 6 of them installed on the farm. Here's our first blog post on cutting tire waterers from October 2014. 

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We found our tires at an old strip-mine in a nearby county. We were pleasantly surprised that we got a big tire cut in about four hours. 

Step 1: Drill a hole through the tire big enough to get the saw blade started. 

Step 2: Start the saw in the hole and continue all the way around the tire until you remove the middle portion completely. 

Notice the chain in the picture. This was used to hold some upward pressure on the cut so that the rubber would not cause the saw blade to get pinched. We moved the chain around the tire with us as we cut. We also sprayed the blade with soapy water to help keep it cool and cutting good. 

It actually cut surprisingly well. We could cut around 2 to 3 feet before the blade would get too hot and break. By then we usually were ready for a breather too. It took us 8 blades to cut this tire. 
Notice how we have moved the chain around the tire as we cut. This helped tremendously.

​This tire was about 2.5 inches thick with steel belts all the way around. We cut it with 14 TPI metal blades which worked well. We are hoping to get this tire installed before winter. I will include pictures of that process once we get it completed. Until then, we have three more tires to cut.

The hole in the middle of the tire is about 3 foot and sits about 8 inches tall off the ground. This tire is 8ft in diameter. 

We will be posting more information and resources on our tire waterers for the month of May. You can stay up-to-date with us through email by subscribing to our blog posts and by checking out our Facebook. 

In the mean time, you can check out more information about the tires under the "Producers Resources" tab.