Winter water needs for livestock
- col-shelby-tedrow
- October 7, 2022
- 513
Water during the summer months for livestock is very important, but it is often forgotten how important it is for animals in the winter.
Water makes up 60-70% of the animals’ live weight. It is more important for animals to consume water than food. Domesticated animals can live about 60 days without food but can only live close to seven days without water. All animals should always be given clean free choice water, but with winter quickly approaching, it's time to think about how animals really rely on us to provide them with clean drinking water.
Water in the animals’ body performs many functions. Water helps with eliminating waste products; regulating blood osmotic pressure; producing milk; producing saliva; transporting nutrients, hormones and other chemical messages thought the body; and temperature regulation.
Water is needed at all times for optimal animal performance. Factors that affect water intake include environmental temperature, feed moisture, body size and milk production. The amount of water any animal drinks is dependent on the outside temperature. For example, a lactating beef cow during the summer months on a 90 F day would drink around 16 gallons of water. That same cow on a 40 F day would drink around 11 gallons of water. For every pound of dry matter consumed, cattle need to drink around 7 pounds of water.
During the cold months, animals’ energy requirements go up to help them stay warm because they burn more energy to stay warm as their dry matter intake increases. When their dry matter intake increases, so does the water intake for those animals. The challenge in the wintertime with water is it freezing. Unless you have heated buckets, you are constantly dealing with frozen water. When animals cannot drink water because it is frozen, they will eat less dry matter, which causes them to burn more energy to stay warm.
Animals' water intake declines in the winter because when they are given cold water during the winter, it causes their body temperature to decrease, so they must use more energy to warm themselves back up. The ideal water temperature for any animal should be between 37-65 F.
Pregnant animals need water to help the fetus grow, and lactating animals need water to produce milk. Milk is made up of 80-88% water, which makes water availability for pregnant and lactating animals very important. When animals are not producing milk, they are not able to feed their babies, which cuts into profit because you will need to supplement those babies.
Here are a few tricks to help with freezing water during the winter: If your pens do not have access to automatic waters or electric, you can use rubber tubs. It makes breaking ice easier, and you don’t risk breaking buckets. If you do have access to electricity and you use big stock tanks to water your animals, you can use electric water heaters to keep the water from freezing. Another good trick is putting the tanks or buckets close together and insulating them with tires to help hold the heat in.
Shelby Tedrow is an agriculture and natural resources and 4-H program assistant for OSU Extension Wayne County. She can be reached at 330-264-8722 or tedrow.28@osu.edu.