Water management for dairy cows

Quality and quantity of water is critically important to dairy cow performance, making management of water supplies throughout the year essential.

Cows normally drink in short bouts several times throughout the day, with the peak intakes after milking and feeding.

Milk yield is closely related to water quality, availability and intake.

There needs to be 70 cm of water trough space per cow – a 100-cow herd requires 7 m of total trough space.

The trough space should be sufficient for 10% of the herd to drink at once.

Water should be clean and its flow rate sufficient to allow rapid refilling of the trough, so water is always in front of the cows.

Cows can drink up to 14 litres/minute, so 10 cows drinking at the same time can consume 140 litres every minute.

More specific water supply requirements are set out in the quality assurance schemes of some milk buyers.

At pasture, cows should not have to walk more than 250 metres to a drinking trough.

Additional water troughs should be available in the collecting yard and, if possible, en route to the grazing area.

All troughs should allow cows unrestricted access.

Water troughs are best sited on a dry area of the field to ensure good continuous access for stock and should be maintained regularly to minimise leaking or overflowing problems.

Wherever possible, troughs should be protected from the wind, which can surprisingly easily cause spillage and poaching in the drinking access area.

Troughs should be sited well away from gateways to minimise poaching and avoid any restriction to cow flow.

An apron is often a good investment, particularly around heavily used water troughs, to prevent the ground becoming muddy and stony.

To allow cows to drink freely, the rim of water troughs should be 75 cm (30in) above ground level.

Water bowsers are an effective short-term solution to provide extra water in areas of low pressure or where new troughs have yet to be installed.

In buildings, water troughs should always be sited to maximise accessibility to all animals.

Water must always be available in collecting and dispersal areas, as well as in housing and fields.

For ease of cleaning, tip-over troughs are ideal in yards.

In cubicle sheds, it is important to:

• Ensure water spilled from troughs or any leakage does not run onto cubicle beds
• Prevent cows standing in cubicles reaching troughs
• Avoid the risk of troughs being filled by feeder wagons

Cross passages are ideal sites for troughs in cubicle sheds and should be at least 3.6 m wide to allow two cows to pass behind animals that are drinking.

In straw yards, it is important to:

• Ensure cows cannot drink while standing on bedded areas
• Design floors to fall away from bedded areas so waste water and leaks do not make beds wet
• Site troughs where straw will not be blown into troughs during bedding down or make simple covers to use while straw blowing
• Avoid the risk of troughs being filled when mucking out or by feeder wagons