- Rainwater Collection
We are pretty fortunate to live on a farm with a well. This means we don’t have to pay for water from the city mains. Also, the climate here is pretty temperate with a good amount of regular rain.
But this may not be true about your situation and you may have been thinking of all the advantages of harvesting your very own rain water. As a matter of fact, this has been something I have been considering myself for the simple reason that it is free and a farm requires a lot of water.
An IBC tote from Verdetrader.com is the perfect thing for this very purpose. They are much larger than the 55-Gallon drums typically dedicated to this purpose. They also come complete with the spout so water can be dispensed easily as needed.
- Livestock Waterer
This was actually one of the first reasons we began investing in IBC tote. We needed a better way to store and deliver water for our livestock. We can fill an IBC tote once every week and then transport the tote out to the pasture where our livestock graze. Believe you me, this beats the hell out of carrying buckets of water. Your back will thank me at the end of the day.
As mentioned, these handy IBC totes come with built-in spouts so dispensing the water as needed. But I have seen some ingenious folk rig these tots so that the animals can drink directly from the tote.
You can even cut the top of the tote clear off and turn it into an easy to fill and transport water trough.
It would be smart to invest in a food grade IBC tote so you will not have to worry about the degradation of the plastic. Otherwise, you will have to begin thinking of a way to clean out all the algae that begins to grow inside. A food grade IBC tote is also a great container for storing animal feed.
- Aquaponics
IBC totes are also a great container for setting up a self-sustaining system needed for aquaponics. A tote is the perfect dimension for growing crops or housing fish. And because they are stackable, you will be able to set up your aquaponics array however you see fit. These totes can also be strung together.
- Rabbit Hutch
If you have rabbits on your farm either as pets or livestock a IBC tote makes a great hutch. Sure, there will be some cutting and fixing up involved, but when the work is done you can have a multi-story complex capable of housing many happy families.
- Composting
Composting is an important part of any homesteader’s operations to some extent or other. There is hardly a better soil amendment than fresh homegrown compost for improving the quality of your soil and the quantity and quality of your crop yield. And if you will be looking for a great way to expand your operations, an IBC tote is a great option.
You will need to drill some large holes in the side for drainage and aeration. You will also need a way to stir the pot every now and then. But for large scale composting there is nothing like an easy to transport container that can be hauled to your fields and applied as needed.
- Duck Pond
You will need to figure out how you will drain and clean the IBC tote, but they also make an excellent duck pond. All you have to do is slice it in half and fill it with water.
- Calf Hutch
There are dairy farms behind every blade of grass where I live. I have seen many enterprising dairy farmers use IBC totes as clever calf hutches. Make sure you purchase the type with the cage built around it, this way when you repurpose your IBC tote, you get the calf hutch and a built-in pen.
