Frozen water and animals
The one thing that almost all life needs to survive is water. Drought can pose a problem in many areas of the world and so can ice. If you have an outside pond full of koi or goldfish, you probably know that those fish can survive quite well under a layer of ice, providing the water has an air hole in it somewhere for air to water exchange. There are pond de-icers that can do the job of leaving an area open for the fish.
If you raise horses, llamas, cattle, sheep or other livestock then you know that they need a constant access to water in the winter. Snow and ice will not provide the many gallons of water they need each day. Since flowing water does not freeze very easily then having the livestock in a pasture where there is a creek, stream or river flowing through it would solve most of your watering problems. If you don’t have access to a creek you need to provide an ice free water trough for the animals to drink out of. You can find electric tank de-icers on sale at most feed stores.
Of course just having a de-icer does not solve the problem of having frozen hoses to fill those tanks and water buckets. To keep the hoses from freezing, turn on the water and let it trickle through the hose fast enough to keep the water from freezing. You will have to experiment with the amount of the flow to see how far you will have to turn the water on to keep it flowing.
Your animals will thank you for the liquid water you will have ready for them during those bitter cold winter days and nights.
