Ron Donally

I dont believe in all the trouble of, or for, the pure breeds
My hunting dogs and our farm dogs were all mixes ...
and for hunters (flushing bird dogs) my Lab/ Cocker cross
out hunted several prize hunters with ribbons...
however in defense of others...
my hunter ran free on the farm and probably knew the pheasants by name ...:)
as for cattle dog our German Shepard cross Collie
a. would drive cows as needed ...just point
b. guard dog, nobody came in the yard without a reception and was followed and barked at until asked not to by familly...
c.would stop all sorts of critters from setting up shop in the area... skunks ,badgers, fox. etc.
d. when I was so stupid as to leave a gate open .He kept the cows in ( dog received steak after.....)
e. did not bother any farm animal pigs, ducks, chickens,cats,horses,cows unless asked to ...( ie sick'em and point)
F. UNUSUAL yes but to this day I believe cross breeds are smarter and Collie/German Sheppard fantastic
g. I swear all this is true,

update thinking
a small floating(semi floating) rocket heater in a big tank
should do a great job I would bet.

I grew up on a dairy farm(poor in the 50-60s} in Minnesota (damn cold)
our simple answer was a milk can loaded with ballast to sink mostly to floor of (a floating fire pit if tank was too full)
an outdoor tank about 6ft by 3 by 3 deep filled to 1/2 -3/4
start a small fire in the can once a day ....the end.
it worked 95% of the time to have a water for heard of 40 plus cows
tank was filled to 3/4 by a hose to the barn manually about once every 3 days...

the cows did have a chance to drink while being milked
so nobody was going to go without
for too long...

it really didn't seem to take much to keep enough water open
around the can and drinkable for the cows and horses we had.