While there are many benefits of collecting rainwater, I’m going to dive into the main two for our farm:
Plant and goat health
Let’s start with plant health:
Rainwater is free from the normal chemicals found in city/county water, like chlorine, fluoride, etc. These chemicals can kill beneficial microorganisms in the soil, thus hurting soil health and, ultimately, hurting plant health
Even well water can have downsides for using to water plants because, if the well water has high enough levels of calcium and magnesium to be considered hard water, the excess minerals can build up in the soil and make the roots’ absorption of essential nutrients more difficult.
Rainwater is considered pure and 100% soft. It is also free from salt. Salt can cause many soil problems (such as leaf burn) if it builds up to too high of levels.
Rainwater contains nitrates, which are an exceedingly easy to absorb form of Nitrogen, something plants need.
Now onto goats:
The main reason I have for wanting to use rainwater over city/count and, even, well water is copper absorption. City/county and well water can have high mineral levels (like sulfur and iron). These can bind to copper and hinder its absorption in goats. Copper is essential for goat health.
A great way to tell how the copper levels are in your herd is by looking at your darker goats. Has their dark hair taken on a reddish hue? They may be low on copper.
Collecting rainwater can be easy and provides many benefits for plants and animals. The savings on the water bills isn’t bad, either!