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Effect of Zeolite Treatment on Hard Drinking Water on Milk Production¹

Department of Dairy Husbandry, University of Wisconsin, Madison

ABSTRACT

During November 1 to April 30 (181 days), periods of alternate years, 19 cows averaged 17.6 lb. of milk daily when receiving untreated well-water averaging 190 p.p.m. of total hardness, as compared to 19.9 lb. when receiving water from the same source but zeolite-treated to zero-hardness. The average stages of lactation (after calving) were 169 and 132 days, respectively. When adjusted for stage of lactation by covariance analysis, the corrected yields were 18.8 and 19.0 lb. for untreated and treated water, respectively. This difference is not significant. It is concluded that softening the drinking-water for dairy cows has no measurable effect on milk production. When given a choice between untreated and treated water during an entire summer, the herd showed no clearcut preference for either, although they drank more of the untreated water.

¹ Published with the approval of the Director of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station.

² Present address, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg.

³ LaCrosse Branch Station, LaCrosse, Wisconsin.