Water is one of an essential component in the body and soluble medium of all types of nutrients. Water helps to maintain body homeostasis condition, ionic balance, metabolic activities etc. In dairy farming, water intake directly related to milk production. The modern intensive system rearing with very high yielder dairy cow, the supply of good quality and sufficient of clean, fresh water is extremely importance for their productivity. The intake of water largely depends on the breeds and size of animals, stage of lactation and pregnancy, weather condition, dry matter and sodium intake, water quality as well as milk production ability although some water trough management factors also have a crucial part in water intake. The water trough capacity, the design of water troughs like the effects of water depth, trough surface area, and height, distance from feed to water trough, location of water trough, types of the housing system. Suboptimal water trough design may have the long term negative impact on production and welfare of dairy animals. The dairy cattle are mostly preferred drinking at water trough compare to water bowls or nipple drinking. However, despite the known positive effects water troughs can have on cattle's drinking behaviour and productivity, there is little known about how characteristics of the trough affect dairy cattle's preference, drinking behaviour, and productivity. Cattle have a peripheral vision of the monocular type, with a very wide field of view of approximately 330º, which helps them avoid predators and discriminate some colours. Cattle have the ability to discriminate between visual stimuli with different levels of brightness, as well as between the colours. It had been shown that cows prefer larger to smaller water troughs, round plastic to squared concrete troughs and deeper and wider to shallow water. In conclusion, cows prefer and drink more water from larger troughs. Cows took more sips, spent more time drinking and drank more water from the trough with the larger surface area as well as lower height water trough but depth did not influence water intake. Cattle not only prefer but also drink more from a rounded PVC water tank in comparison to an RC trough. Cows drank more often, for longer periods and a larger amount when the water trough was inside the paddock than when it was in the corridor. Colour did not play a major role in the drinking behaviour of dairy cows.

1. SEMINAR
ON
Presented by
Dr. SANTU MONDAL
LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT
Ph.D
Effect of Design, location and colour of
water troughs on water intake in cattle

2.  Water is the most important nutrient for health and performance
in animal production and cows need free access to clean water at
all times. (NRC, 2001)
 Cattle prefer drinking from a water trough rather than from an
open stream. (Sheffield et al., 1997)
 Drinker design is known to affect the preference and water
consumption of other farm animal species.
(Nyman and Dahlborn, 2001; Phillips et al., 2001)
 The water trough design affects both preferences and water
consumption by lactating and non-lactating dairy cattle.
(Filho et al., 2004)
Introduction

3.  In welfare standards for beef cattle, a maximum of 250 mt.
walking distance from water source is advised.
(RSPCA, 2010)
 The locating the water trough inside the paddock has positive
effects on animal performance.
(Reyes et al., 1996)
 Cattle have the ability to discriminate between visual stimuli
with different levels of brightness as well as between colours.
(Phillips & Lomas, 2001)
Cont….

4. Important of Water Intake
Water contributes 90 % of milk component that come from
optimum intake of water.
Good quality water supply help to drink more, eat more and
produce more milk.
Cows need five litres of water for the intake of one kilo of dry
matter utilization.
Cows need at least three litres of water to produce one litre of
milk.
High yielding cows need more than 150 litres of fresh water
every day.

5.  Cows like to drink fast – up to 25 litres of water per minute.
 They like to drink when they eat and just after milking.
 They prefer a large, calm drinking surface, from which they can
drink quickly and without stress.
 The water should be clean, fresh and hygienic.
Cont….

6. Water troughs –
 A trough space of 60-70 cm should be allowed for each cow. For
free choice, the trough should be sized for two to three cows at a
time. One trough should be provided for every 50 animals.
 Young stock in a loose housing system require one water trough
for every 50–60 animals. A 60 cm height is satisfactory. A
minimum flow rate of 4–5 litres per minute for each animal
drinking at any one time is desirable.
(FAO, 2011)
Water Troughs Size Recommended by FAO

7. Automatic drinkers -
 Automatic drinkers provide a hygienic
means of water supply for cows and
young stock .
 When used in loose housing systems for
cows, the bowl should be placed at a
height of 100 cm.
 One bowl should be provided for every
10–15 cows
Cont….
(FAO, 2011)

8. Water Troughs Size Recommended by BIS
Water trough
dimension
Length Height Width Depth
One animal 60-75 cm 50 cm 60 cm 40 cm
 Loose housing system – 50 animal in one group
• Total length come is about 50 x 60-75 cm = 3000- 3750 cm
• It is recommended that 10 % of total length of water trough is
sufficient, i.e. 300-375 cm
 Surface area – 6.48 -7.98 m² ( Per cow = 0.13-0.16 m²)

9. Water Troughs Recommended by Welfare Society
 Cattle, including calves over 7 days , must be provided
with continuous access to an adequate supply of water .
 The animals should be provided with a daily of fresh ,
clean water.
Minimum drinking space must be provided 45 to 70 cm per
head ( 350 to 700 kg b.wt.) i.e for 50 cattle length should
be 2.25 meter.
( RSPCA, 2011)

10. If Drinking bowl is provided for isolation pens or short –
term housing , there must be 1 drinking bowl per 10 cattle .
Water requirement – 4.5 lt./ 50 kg B. Wt. + 3lt./per lt. of
milk production.
Cattle should not be expected to have to walk more than
250 meter to access water.
( RSPCA, 2011)
Cont….

11. Experiments –I (N=14, individually tested four consecutive days)
Small size Vs. Large size P value
Drinking time (Sec) 2.43±2.08 Vs. 27.26±6.225 P<0.001
Water intake (L) 0.68±0.71 Vs. 9.28±2.27 P<0.001
No. of sips 1.68±1.48 Vs. 17.56 ± 4.31 P<0.001
(Filho et al., 2004)
Water Troughs Size
Water Trough Small size Large size
Height x length x Width (cm ³) 30x126x68 60x139x95
Volume (litter) 189 568

12. Experiments -II
(Filho et al., 2004)
Cont….
Group 1-6: Non-lactating cow(n=3); Group7-8: Lactating cow (n=3)

13. Dimension Water intake (l) Time spent
drinking (s)
Sips taken (n)
Surface area
1.13 m2 (Ø = 1.2 m)
0.28 m2 (Ø = 0.6 m)
12.9±1.2
4.2±1.3
(p < 0.0001)
34.6±3.5
10.7±3.5
(p < 0.0001)
22.5±2.2
6.5±2.0
(p < 0.0001)
Height
30 cm
60 cm
10.9±1.1
7.4±1.6
(p = 0.08)
28.9±3.6
19.6±3.7
(p = 0.08)
19.9±2.0
12.4±2.3
(p < 0.02)
Depth
30 cm
60 cm
8.4±1.1
7.3±1.1
(p = 0.5)
25.0±3.0
22.7±3.1
(p = 0.6)
15.5±1.9
13.5±1.8
(p=0.4)
 Lactating cows (n=18) were taken and each cow was tested
individually for six consecutive days with the troughs randomly
placed in each side.
(Teixeira et al., 2006)
Water Troughs Design

14. ( Coimbra et al., 2010)
Rectangular RC trough Vs. Round PVC trough
Rectangular concrete trough
Dimension- 0.5m width x 31.5m
Length x 30.5m height.
Capacity- 300 l
Surface area- 0.75 m²
Trail -30 days
Round blue polyvinyl
chloride water tank (PVC)
Dimension- 0.6m ht. and 1.2m dia.
Capacity- 500 l
Surface area- 1.13 m²
Trail -30 days

15. Trail-1: Evaluation of the
preference of beef heifers between
two water trough types
Trail -2: Evaluation of water intake of
heifers with exclusive access to each
of the two different water trough types
( Coimbra et al., 2010)
Cont….

16. Location of Water Troughs on Drinking
 Each period lasted for 21 days, in which the first 14 days
served as a habituation period, followed by collection of
behavioural data on the last 7 days.
 The water trough consisted of a round polythene 500 L water
tank (1.20 m diameter and 0.6 m high, Tigre®, Joinville, SC,
Brazil).
 total of 32 non-pregnant dry cows, were randomly distributed
in four groups of eight animals balanced for breed, weight
(average 435± 25 kg) and age (average 7.5 ± 3 years old).
(Coimbra et al., 2012)

17. (Coimbra et al., 2012)
Cont….

18. Effect of Colour Water Troughs on Drinking
 Eighteen lactating cows were
individually tested.
 The test conducted on three water
troughs with a circular shape,
measuring 60 cm high, 60 cm in
diameter, and 0.28 m² in superficial
area; the troughs held 125 L. The
three troughs were originally blue,
and the outside part of each trough
was covered using contact paper of
different colours: green, grey, and
red.

19. Green Grey Red P value
Water intake (l) 14.9±0.99 15.5±0.96 14.9±1.13 0.9
Time spent drinking (s) 39.2±2.44 40.6±2.37 37.3±2.64 0.6
Sips taken (n) 27.5±1.80 28.6±1.74 26.1±1.92 0.6
Within the preferred troughs
Water intake (l) 17.9±0.98 17.7±0.89 15.9±0.95 0.2
Time spent drinking (s) 46.4±2.38a 46.4±2.20a 39.6±2.23b 0.05
Sips taken (n) 32.7±1.80 32.7±1.66 27.7±1.68 0.07
( Teixeira et al., 2017)
Cont….

20. Water Troughs Designed by KVASU

21. Automated Water Bowls Patented by KVASU

22. DeLaval Water Troughs

23. Cont….

24. DeLaval Water Bowls

25.  Cows prefer and drink more water from larger troughs.
 Cows took more sips, spent more time drinking and drank
more water from the trough with larger surface area as well
as lower height water trough.
 Water trough depth did not influence water intake.
Conclusions

26.  Cattle not only prefer, but also drink more from a blue
rounded PVC water tank in comparison to a RC trough.
 Cows drank more often, for longer periods and a larger
amount when the water trough was inside the paddock than
when it was in the corridor.
 Colour did not play a major role in the drinking behaviour
of dairy cows.
Cont….