That's not a place to live - that's a lab experiment. Y'all can keep that crap, I'll visit in the summer.
His cattle won't sweat in cold weather, so they will drink less water. This works the same as the old fashioned float valve in a toilet tank. Water Trough Float Valve If the cattle are drinking less water and the wells are keeping constant water pressure all the way to the float valve at the trough, then the water in the pipes will mostly be sitting and could freeze because of the lack of sustained movement. Shutting off the wells is much the same as shutting off the water supply to a home overnight.
What that guy said. Pipes can't break if pipes got no water in 'em. Cows have live water, the troughs would just be frozen with 7" of ice, so off. You bail enough water out so that the float valve is open when it freezes.
It hit 50 here in Minneapolis and will be in the 40’s today. It could be over 50 tomorrow. This Minneapolis forecast looks like what I remember Houston weather in February was growing up.