Peak water intake generally coincides with peak grazing periods. Cows should have easy access to water, particularly now that temperatures have increased over the past number of weeks.
During wet weather conditions, demand for water is not as high, as the dry matter (DM) content of the grass is lower. During drier spells, the DM of the grass is higher, meaning water intake will increase.
Peak water demands occur after evening milking, and to a lesser extent after morning milking – a trough space of 450mm/cow should be allowed.
In an ideal situation, the water trough should be located in the middle of the paddock in order for the cows to access water from all angles.
Milk is almost 90% water and cows drink 4-4.5L of water/kg of milk produced – daily drinking requirements vary but can be 60-140L/cow.
Making sure that cows have access to clean water is extremely important for the production, health and welfare of the cow, particularly during summer months.
Access to water
On an average day, a 150-cow herd could drink up to 10,000L (65L/cow) – the water system must be sufficient to ensure that this quantity of water is delivered to the paddock.
For your trough size, there should also be a reserve of water in your paddocks of about 9L/cow, which is the equivalent of 1,350L (300gal) for a 150-cow herd.
An appropriate size pipe will allow for a good flow rate. If a trough is empty after cows use it, it is likely that the flow of water is lower than the demand.
A wider pipe is often required to increase the amount of water that can flow through the system. For the main waterline, a 38-42mm internal diameter is required for a 150-cow herd.
In situations where the cows have a long walking distance, it may be useful to install a trough along a highly trafficked area.
However, you don’t want these troughs causing delays, so where possible, it is advisable to place these troughs in an area that can only be accessed after milking, or while cows are in the collecting yard.
Troughs should be regularly monitored to ensure they are in good working order and that they are not leaking- these checks should be done before and after grazing.
Troughs should be regularly cleaned out – remove any algae or foreign objects that are present in the water trough, as they can potentially reduce a cow’s water intake.
The key performance indicators should be:
- No queuing at water trough;
- Trough always filled after milking;
- No leakage;
- No cow tracks to water trough as it indicates a long walk to troughs;
- Water system drained over the winter.