Chlorine Byproducts: Protecting Your Animals

Chlorine is a harmful toxin, as we've already discovered in a previous blog post. One reason many choose to purchase a Berkey water filter system is to avoid drinking chlorine byproducts.

Homesteaders and pet-owners don't just worry about their families, though. They are also concerned about their animals.

Berkey Water Filters Remove Chlorine Byproducts

If chlorine can harm humans, it can also harm animals. What is the best way to make sure your animals aren't consuming chlorine?

There are a few things you can do.

Berkey is obviously a great water filtration system for removing chlorine.

Before you purchase, consider how large of a system you need based on the number of animals you own. If you have a large number of animals, you may need an Imperial or Crown Berkey system.

Some pets will obviously be easier than others. If you have several chickens, dogs or cats, water from the Berkey won’t be a problem. The same is true for chickens and other smaller animals.

Chlorine Byproducts Equally Bad for Large Animals

What should you do if you have larger animals, like sheep, goats, cattle, horses, or pigs? Even the largest Berkey system won't provide enough water for these animals.

It's not wise to simply ignore the issue, though.

Chlorine can be especially harmful to ruminant animals, like sheep and cattle. Chlorine kills micro-organisms, but ruminant animals require these same organisms to aid in digestion.

This disruption can lead to multiple health concerns for these animals, including negatively affecting milk protein content.

Negative effects due to chlorine have also been found in horses and pigs. When pigs have been exposed to more chlorine in their water, levels of stillbirths and piglet death rates increased.

Studies have found that chlorine affects the immune system of animals, making them sicker and likely live shorter lives.

Consider This Before Adding Livestock To Your Homestead

Avoiding Chlorine for All Animals

So, how can you be sure that your larger animals don't consume chlorine?

One item you can purchase is a hose water filter. These chlorine-removal filters are meant to fit onto your hose so you can easily remove chlorine and other toxins from water your pets drink.

While in theory this is a great solution, sometimes these filters don't work perfectly.

First, they can be affected by weather and freeze in cold climates.

Second, the filters need to be replaced often or they can clog.

Another item that will help you is chlorine test strips. This will help you determine the chlorine level in your water supply. These strips are recommended whether or not you use a water hose filter.

Finally, another product to consider purchasing is water treatment for livestock. For every 5 gallons, you simply add 15 ml of the water treatment, mix thoroughly for one minute, and the chlorine is removed.

Afterwards, check the chlorine level with a chlorine test strip, just to be sure.

Protect Your Animals from Chlorine Disinfection Byproducts

If you're a homesteading family, the health of your animals is as important as the health of your family.

Your animals are needed for multiple reasons. For that, it's important to ensure that they will have long, healthy lives.

Chlorine can negatively affect the health of your animals, so taking steps to avoid their exposure is a wise homesteading decision.

Even if you aren't a homesteading family, pets are important to us. They’re our family and we should treat them with care.