A watering trough (or artificial watering point) is a man-made or natural receptacle intended to provide drinking water to animals,

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

on farms or ranches or wild animals.

History

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, the watering trough is established so that sheep, cattle and other domesticated animals can drink, but native species such as

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

s may be attracted. To reduce this, some water troughs are designed to reduce their use of the trough or exclude them from that use. One design is the "Finlayson Trough", which uses a low-lying electrified wire that sheep usually step over but kangaroos cannot. Watering troughs were very common in many towns and cities as a means for

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

s to drink while they were tethered to a post. In 1927 animal lovers, Annis and George Bills, funded the building of up to 500 watering troughs in Australia, Ireland, England and the United States. Many can still be seen today inscribed with ''Donated by Annis and George Bills Australia''. Nowadays, manufacturers provide a variety of water troughs for animals made of different materials. Permanent access to freshwater is essential to all animals, especially to dairy cows. The more water a cow drinks, the more milk she produces.

Abreuvoir

An ''

abreuvoir A watering trough (or artificial watering point) is a man-made or natural receptacle intended to provide drinking water to animals, livestock on farms or ranches or wild animals. History In Australia, the watering trough is established so ...

'' is a watering trough, fountain, or other installed basin: originally intended to provide humans and/or animals at a rural or urban watering place with fresh drinking water. They were often located at springs. In pre-automobile era cities, they were built as equestrian water troughs for horses providing transportation. In contemporary times, ''abreuvoirs'' are also seen as civic or private fountains in the designed townscape-landscape. ; Translations * English – Watering trough, basin trough fountain * Spanish – ''Abrevadero'' * French – ''Abreuvoir, fontaine pour les animaux'' * German – ''Tränke'' * Italian – ''Abbeveratoio'' In

stonemasonry Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. It is one of the oldest activities and professions in human history. Many of the long-lasting, ancient shelters, temples, mo ...

, as an old or obsolete term, an ''abreuvoir'' is a joint or interstice between two stones, to be filled with mortar by a stonemason.

History

Abreuvoir

See also

References

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