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Jim and Jackie Anderson

Jim and Jackie Anderson applied a little ingenuity to solve the problem livestock producers have with providing clean water to their herds all year long.

Jim Anderson

Cattle raisers near Rimbey, Alberta (northwest of Red Deer), the Andersons know getting water to their cattle through the entire calendar year is not easy. Dugouts and other water sources freeze in winter, solar-powered water pumps often fail during cloudy periods, and watering the cattle directly from a stream or pond can leave a muddy, manure-filled water source.

The Andersons spent countless hours exploring ways to graze their cattle on a waterless quarter-section of land, without using electricity. Already familiar with existing nose pumps (the so-called pasture pumps which cattle push to pump water from a remote water source into a drinking trough), Jim knew he had to find a way to let the water drain away so that the pump didn’t freeze in winter. In 1999, he began designing the Frostfree Nosepump™ and emerged with working models of the design soon after.

The Andersons worked with engineers from the Alberta Research Council (ARC) to fine-tune their design. The ARC staff helped refine some of the mechanical systems that help draw water from the source to the pump collection. The pumps were tested on the Andersons’ herd of cattle, and the response, which showed the cows drinking easily from the new pump, encouraged the couple to produce more of the innovative devices.

The pump hit the market in 2002, and attracted a lot of media attention from agricultural publications as well as local radio.

Jackie Anderson has been directly involved with the marketing of the Frostfree Nosepump, and has fielded inquiries from as far away as Argentina and New Zealand. The reviews from the Andersons’ peers in the ranching community include high praise for the pump’s ease of operation and the ability to keep water sources clean.

Featured Audio

Watering Cattle All Year Round

The Heritage Community Foundation is pleased to present this episode of the Innovation Alberta radio series, courtesy of Porcupine Stone Productions and Cheryl Croucher.

Jim and Jackie Anderson from Rimbey, Alberta talk about the benefits of the Frostfree Nosepump. Listen

Sources:

    This article also has an audio link, as well as a photo of the Andersons with the nose
    pump.

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