Water has often been described as the most neglected ingredient in livestock rations but that’s not true for pork producer Wayne Neuberger, Klemme, Iowa.
He installed a chlorinator on his well years ago that provides water for his hog buildings and home.
While the chlorine did the job on the water, Neuberger didn’t like the idea that you could smell and taste it in the water. Then he heard about a system that injects hydrogen peroxide into the water line.
“Peroxide can do everything chlorine can do when it comes to taking contaminants out of water,” he believes. “The big advantage we noticed right away is that it leaves no smell or taste in the water.”
Then he found another advantage.
“It wasn’t until after I’d switched to peroxide that I found what the chlorine had done to my well,” he says. “We’d been using chlorine tablets, dropping them into the well casing. Chlorine is highly corrosive and it actually ate through the steel casing. We had to pull the pump, re-drill the well and replace the casing. When we pulled the pump, it was encrusted in undissolved chlorine from the tablets.”
He says the cost was “significant.” He had the well deepened, but the water from the lower aquifer had a high sulfur content.
That showed him another advantage of hydrogen peroxide. “Peroxide immediately oxidizes the sulfur, so we have water that’s as clean, clear and odorless as fresh spring water. There’s also iron oxide in the water and while the peroxide can’t take it out by itself without extra filtration, it keeps it in suspension so it doesn’t accumulate and plug waterers,” he says.
Neuberger says he’s run out of peroxide a couple of times. When that happens, the sulfur smell and taste show up in the water to remind him it’s time to get a new supply.
He says you don’t need to be a plumber or expert mechanic to install a hydrogen peroxide injection system. “All you need is a squeeze pump to inject it into the water and a wire from the well pump controller to the squeeze pump, so when the water pump comes on, the squeeze pump does, too.”
After that, he says, the big thing is calibrating the squeeze pump so the right amount of peroxide is injected into the water. Hydrogen peroxide test strips tell you the level you’re at. “Once you have it set, that’s all there is to it,” he says. “I haven’t touched the pump since then.”
Neuberger has found one more way to use peroxide for his hogs. “I add a little extra to the hog water through the medicator whenever I hear them coughing or suspect they might have a touch of a respiratory infection,” he says. “That almost always knocks it out and I seldom use any other medication.”
Compared to drugs, peroxide is considerably less expensive. And, while it costs less than a penny per pig more than chlorine for treating water, Neuberger says the fact that it’s noncorrosive and not apparent in the water makes it more desirable and probably more economical in the long run.
He says he uses Oxy Blast Plus which is the brand of hydrogen peroxide that Essential Water Solutions, Inc., Story City, Iowa sells. The company claims it has over three times the vitality of plain peroxide because of the many antibiotic herbs that are added. Neuberger uses a 15 gal. drum of Oxy Blast Plus every couple of months, or about 90 gal. per year, for both his house and hog operation. Oxy Blast Plus runs about $16 per gal. Neuberger uses 35 percent Oxy Blast Plus, purchased from Randy Navratil, owner, Essential Water Solutions, Inc. Navratil says the Oxy Blast Plus is available in 5 and 15- gal. drums, and 500 lb. drums. The 50 percent concentrate, Oxy Blast Plus 50 has now become more popular and is also available in the same size containers.
Navratil reports that Oxy Blast Plus is not only used for swine operations, but also benefits poultry, beef and dairy. In fact, over 225,000 dairy cows are currently on Oxy Blast Plus throughout the U.S. More often than not, Oxy Blast Plus is eliminating the need for antibiotics besides cleaning up the water.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Wayne Neuberger, 2470 170th S., Klemme, Iowa 50449; ph 641 587-2616 or Randy Navratil, Essential Water Solutions, Inc., 327 Hillcrest Dr., Story City, Iowa 50248; ph 515 733-5053; Cell 515- 290-9070; email: randy@essentialwater.net; website: www.essentialwater.net.
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