According to the latest research, the quality of water cattle drink might affect their size and health.
For the average producer, the difference can mean as much as $5,000 on a herd of 100 cattle.
Walter Willms, a researcher at the Agriculture Canada Research Centre in Lethbridge, Alta., says the quality of water a cow drinks determines its size, weight and eating habits.
“I think water has been neglected and seldom addressed in terms of livestock performance,” Willms said.
“We’ve been testing for the past six years in terms of performance and behavior. On the whole, the average performance can be considerably greater of animals drinking fresh water than from a dugout.”
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Willms has been working on weight gains in cattle since 1991. His experience and extensive testing tell him cows are a lot like humans and are particular about the way water tastes and smells.
He said a cow will drink more water if it is fresher and of better quality. In turn, the animal will eat more, thus gaining more weight.
“The benefits are clear. We’re getting improvements in weight gains of up to 30 percent when cattle are drinking fresh water as compared with water from dugouts, which should translate into financial benefits for producers.
“Anecdotal evidence I’ve heard from farmers indicates that cattle do not perform as they expect on some other water sources. What we are doing is providing concrete evidence that actually qualifies some of the things they are observing.”
Most cattle drink from older dugouts. The quality is substantially poorer than well or treated water supplies.
With unfenced dugouts, cattle can wade into the water, drink and often relieve themselves before they walk out. Animal waste left in the water reduces its palatability and safety, and can result in less intake by the cattle.
One way to avoid this problem is by pumping water to troughs in the field.
Researchers are testing different water samples with cattle at the Western Beef Development Centre, formerly known as Termeunde Farms, 125 kilometres east of Saskatoon.
The project, funded through the Agri-Food Innovation Fund, is testing four groups of steers, 11 per group, with four water sources. Each group drinks from only one source. Water varieties range from basic, low-quality, direct-access pasture water, to coagulated and chlorinated water in a tough. The project will run over a two-year span with monthly water sampling.
The animals’ water consumption is monitored to identify any variations. The cattle are weighed on a continual basis, and their behavior and environment are checked. In the end, researchers hope to establish a direct link between gains and water quality.
“They haven’t found the reason, so this project will look at increasingly better water to see which, if any, have effects on weight gain,” said Brant Kirychuk, a project leader at the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration.
“We are starting to collect data on the initial weights of the steers, the weather and water volume. We won’t have any weight gain data until about early October 1999.”
If the project is successful, Kirychuk said, the average two-pound weight gain cattle experience per day during the grazing period could increase by an extra half pound. Over a 120-day grazing period, that adds up to an extra 50 lb.
That, however, is not the only financial gain the producer will experience.
“If cattle have direct access to the dugout, they tend to cause it to silt-in every five to seven years depending on the soil structure. You then have to clean it out, which can be expensive.”
For more information about weight gains in cattle and water quality, contact Kirychuk at 306-780-6948, or Willms at 403-317-2218.
