Did you know that cows have the highest water requirement of any land mammal?
Some of our cows at Miner Institute have SmaXtec ruminal boluses that track rumination and activity. They also estimate water consumption. When summarizing SmaXtec data from one of our high group pens I was surprised to see that this summer each cow drank an average of 123 liters (32.5 gallons) of water per day! It’s safe to say that those water troughs get plenty of traffic.
At least in the Northeast water is the least expensive nutrient for cows. Universally, it’s the most required nutrient and is essential for producing milk, digesting feed, and utilizing other, more expensive substances. Understanding cattle drinking behavior can help producers optimize water management, supply, and consumption. For example, we know that water intake is highest in the summer, so adequate water supply in the winter may not be enough on those hot days.
We should also consider preference toward or away from certain water conditions. Do cows prefer a certain waterer type? Does their drinking behavior change when the water is dirty? Burkhardt, et al. from the University of Bonn in Germany addressed these questions by evaluating the effect of water trough design and cleanliness on drinking behavior (Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 254:105752). They utilized a herd of 135 lactating Holstein-Friesian cows at a commercial farm in North-Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The cows were housed in one free stall pen, milked from an automatic milking system, and fed a typical TMR once per day. The pen had four stainless steel waterers: two open tank troughs (see Figure 1) that were 2.00 m x 0.43 m x 0.15 m and held 70 L of water and two double-valve troughs (see Figure 2) that were 0.73 x 0.32 x 0.10 m and held 5 to 15 L of water. Water supply came from a well on the farm that complied with human drinking water standards.
Two 15-day study periods were performed, one in December and one in February. At day 1, all water troughs were cleaned; then, one of each trough type was randomly assigned to be cleaned daily while the other was not cleaned throughout the study period. In the second study period, researchers switched which troughs were cleaned versus not cleaned. Time-lapse cameras were used above each water trough to evaluate drinking behavior for two hours following feeding. This included total time at the trough; time spent smelling, tasting, licking, and drinking; interruptions and antagonistic behavior by other cows; and number of breaks taken during a drinking episode.
On average, one drinking episode lasted 123 seconds with multiple breaks. This was variable – the longest drinking episode lasted over 17 minutes. Most drinking episodes occurred 30 to 60 minutes after feeding. No statistical preference was found between cleaned and uncleaned troughs, contrary to the researchers’ hypothesis. Past studies have shown that cattle prefer clean waterers over fecal-contaminated waterers (Willms et al., 2002; Schütz et al., 2019). In this study, E. coli levels were below the detection limit in all water troughs at day 15, so fecal contamination did not technically occur.
Cows spent more time drinking and consumed more sips at tank troughs. Water intake wasn’t measured but this may have translated to higher water consumption. Cows were also interrupted more at the tank troughs. At any one time, up to four cows could access a tank trough and up to two cows could access a valve trough. It’s possible that cows were drawn to the tank troughs because more could access them at a time, thus leading to more antagonistic behavior. Additionally, while all troughs were located near feed bunk areas, the tank troughs were also closer to the milking systems. Water consumption is high after milking, so it’s possible this influenced the preference towards tank troughs as well.
The authors noted that looking at social dominance may add context to these findings. It’s possible that more dominant cows had a preference toward one type of trough while more subordinate cows opted for a less popular trough with less competition.
The same researchers conducted this study again in the summer to test the effect of seasonality on drinking preference and behavior (Burkhardt, et al. 2024; Animals (Basel) 14(2):257). Cows in the summer had fewer drinking episodes but drank for longer. Tank troughs remained more popular than valve troughs, and antagonistic behaviors were still higher at tank troughs. Cows didn’t show a statistical preference for cleaned or uncleaned troughs, but cows drank for longer at cleaned troughs in the summer compared to winter.
Cattle drinking behavior is clearly a complex system influenced by social hierarchy, barn design, climate, and water trough design. It would be interesting to replicate these trials while measuring water consumption and social dominance. Other metrics like feed efficiency could be calculated and further implications of water trough type and management could be investigated.
— Alexandria Bartlett