A note on the individuality of the intake of drinking water by dairy cows

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe individual water intakes of 16 (four groups of four) lactating dairy cows, measured on 7 consecutive days, were significantly correlated with dry-matter (DM) intakes (range 4·6 to 14·4 kg/day) and milk yields (range 13·7 to 30·0 kg/day). There was no significant correlation with DM content of the feed (range 833 to 898 g/kg), body weight (range 400 to 620 kg) or mean air temperature (range 7·0 to 20·0°C). Applying a multiple regression analysis to the data, the following relationship was obtained: water intake (kg/day) = 2·15 (± 0·415) × DM intake (kg/day)+0·73 (± 0·197) × milk yield (kg/day) + 12·3 (+ 5·57). After adjusting the data for variations in DM intake and milk yield there was no significant difference between the mean daily water intakes of individual cows. There was, however, a significant day-to-day variation in the mean water intakes of the groups of four cows (P<001) which was not explained by variations in DM intake, milk yield or mean daily temperature.