Worksheet Grade 6 Math

Barrowmere Ranch's Stock Tank: Decimals for a Herd's Water

A grade 6 worksheet on a ranch's watering tank: students multiply and divide decimals for a herd's daily demand, then find the percent a float-valve leak wastes.

Grade: Grade 6
Subject: Math
Material: Worksheet
Time: 30 min
Prep: No prep
Materials: Printed worksheet, Calculators

Standards

6.NS.B.3 Common Core Math

Fluently add, subtract, multiply, and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm for each operation.

How this material aligns: Items 1, 4, 7, and 9 require multiplying multi-digit decimals, each one a herd count or an hour count times a per-unit figure written in tenths.

All materials for 6.NS.B.3 →

6.RP.A.3 Common Core Math

Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems, e.g., by reasoning about tables of equivalent ratios, tape diagrams, double number line diagrams, or equations, including finding a percent of a quantity and converting measurement units.

How this material aligns: Items 6 and 8 find a percent decrease and express a leak's daily waste as a percent of the herd's daily demand at the ranch.

All materials for 6.RP.A.3 →

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-09-03.

Objectives

Students will multiply a whole-number count by a decimal rate to find a daily water demand.
Students will divide a daily demand by a tank size to find how many fills a day requires.
Students will express a change and a leak as percents of a daily total.

Vocabulary

Key words: stock tank, float valve, demand, percent decrease

Teacher overview

Cattle drink far more water in July than in January, and a rancher who sizes a watering system for the winter figure runs short in the summer. This worksheet uses the fictional Barrowmere Ranch, which draws its water from a well and pipes it to one stock tank with a float valve. Students often treat the per-animal figure as a total rather than a rate, so items 1, 4, and 9 name the herd size and the gallons for each animal separately, and ask students to combine them.

Barrowmere Ranch's Stock Tank: Decimals for a Herd's Water — Grade 6 Math

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

The fictional Barrowmere Ranch keeps 120 cattle and draws its water from a well. In summer, each animal drinks about 12.5 gallons a day. The stock tank holds 375 gallons. Show your work.

In summer, each of the 120 cattle drinks 12.5 gallons a day. How many gallons does the whole herd drink in one day?
The herd drinks 1,500 gallons a day, and the tank holds 375 gallons. How many tank fills does one day take?
The herd drinks 1,500 gallons a day. How many gallons is that in 30 days?
In winter, each of the 120 cattle drinks about 9.5 gallons a day. How many gallons does the herd drink in one winter day?
The herd drinks 1,500 gallons on a summer day and 1,140 gallons on a winter day. What is the difference?
Summer use is 1,500 gallons a day and winter use is 1,140 gallons a day. By what percent does the daily use drop from summer to winter?
A worn float valve drips 3.2 gallons every hour. How many gallons does it waste in 24 hours?
The leak wastes 76.8 gallons a day, and the herd drinks 1,500 gallons a day. The leak is what percent of the herd's daily demand?
The rancher adds 25 cattle, making 145 in all. At 12.5 gallons a day for each animal, how many gallons does the larger herd drink in a summer day?
The tank holds 375 gallons. Explain in one or two sentences why the rancher checks the tank more often in July than in January.

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key

Answer: 1,500 gallons.
120 cattle times 12.5 gallons each is 1,500 gallons a day.
Answer: 4 fills.
1,500 gallons divided by 375 gallons for each fill is 4 fills.
Answer: 45,000 gallons.
1,500 gallons a day times 30 days is 45,000 gallons.
Answer: 1,140 gallons.
120 cattle times 9.5 gallons each is 1,140 gallons a day.
Answer: 360 gallons.
1,500 gallons minus 1,140 gallons is 360 gallons.
Answer: 24 percent.
The drop is 360 gallons. Then 360 divided by the summer figure of 1,500 is 0.24, which is 24 percent.
Answer: 76.8 gallons.
3.2 gallons an hour times 24 hours is 76.8 gallons.
Answer: 5.12 percent.
76.8 divided by 1,500 is 0.0512, which is 5.12 percent.
Answer: 1,812.5 gallons.
145 cattle times 12.5 gallons each is 1,812.5 gallons a day.
Answer: Because summer demand is much larger than winter demand.
In July the herd drinks 1,500 gallons a day, which empties the 375 gallon tank four times over, while in January it drinks 1,140 gallons. Accept any answer that names the larger summer demand or the number of fills.

Differentiation

Support

Give these students a worked model of item 1 for the fictional Barrowmere herd showing 120 times 12.5 set up vertically, and a reminder card that reads "gallons for each animal times the number of animals equals the daily total." Assign items 1 through 5 first, then add item 7.

Extension

Ask these students to find how many gallons a year the leak wastes at the fictional Barrowmere Ranch, and to compare that with what the herd drinks in a single week. They should write one sentence naming both figures and stating which is larger.

ELL supports

Pre-teach stock tank, float valve, and demand with a labeled sketch of a tank, a pipe, and the valve that shuts the water off when the tank is full. Provide this sentence frame for item 6: "Use went from ___ gallons to ___ gallons, a drop of ___ gallons, which is ___ percent."

Extensions

Have students find how much water a person uses in a day from a home water bill and compare it with the 12.5 gallon summer figure for one animal at the fictional Barrowmere Ranch. Ranking a few familiar water uses by size gives students a reference scale for later problems about farms and towns.