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The Influence of Type of Ration and Plane of Production on Water Consumption of Dairy Cows¹

Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station, Moscow, Idaho

ABSTRACT

1. Addition of succulence to the ration caused a reduction in the amount of free water drunk, but the total water intake remained approximately the same.
   
2. Under similar conditions, dry cows drank an average of 73.5 pounds of water daily; medium producing cows (30.2 pounds milk) drank 109.7 pounds; and high producing cows (82.4 pounds of milk) drank 191.4 pounds. The ratio of free water to milk was 3.6 to 1 for medium producers and 2.3 to 1 for high producers.
   
3. Total water intake averaged daily 102.6 pounds for the dry period, 140.3 pounds for the medium production period, and 231.4 pounds for the high production period. The ratio of total water to milk was 5.2 to 1 during medium production and 2.8 to 1 during high production.
   
4. The ratio of total water to dry matter consumed was 3.6 to 1, 4.7 to 1, and 5.3 to 1 for the dry, medium production, and high production periods respectively. When water in milk was subtracted from total water the ratio of the remaining water to dry matter was approximately the same (3.7 to 1) for all three periods.
   
5. Under relatively similar climatic and feeding conditions the total water requirements of dairy cows seems to depend on the water in milk plus a rather definite amount of water per pound of dry matter consumed.
   
6. Total water per hundred pounds of body weight varied during the three periods, but when water in milk was subtracted the remaining water per hundred pounds of body weight was the same (6.2 pounds) whether the cows were dry or producing, provided the same amount of dry matter was ingested.
   
7. The average number of times that the cows drank during the day and night was as follows: dry period, 3.4 times during the day and 1.1 during the night; medium production period, 3.4 times during the day and 1.6 during the night; and high production period, 5.0 during the day and 3.4 during the night. Of the free water drunk in 24 hours, during the dry period, only 20 per cent was consumed at night, during the medium production, 35 per cent, and during high production, 39 per cent.
   

¹ Published with the approval of the Director of the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station as Research Paper No. 102.

² Dairy Husbandman

³ Assistant Dairy Husbandman.