The Importance of Water to Livestock Animals

Livestock is generally defined as the animals kept or raised on a farm to earn income, productive labor, and other commodities. Livestock also known as farm animals is also a general term used for animals bred or kept for meat, products, labor, or income.

Water is essential, especially to man and animals. A livestock keeper or breeder is responsible for providing adequate, clean, and pathogen-free water to livestock farming animals. One importance of water to livestock is that it determines the performance of animals. For instance, a laying hen that hasn’t drunk enough water might not lay eggs. This is because water is highly essential in egg formation. Likewise, a dairy cow without drunk enough water will produce less milk. This is because water takes the highest part in the constituents of cow milk.

Lack of water for livestock, in addition to being a serious welfare problem, is a very important economic problem. Limiting water consumption lowers the animal’s performance more quickly and drastically than any nutritional deficiency.

Animals need a daily amount of water that is linked to race, age, physiological state, ambient temperature and humidity, wind speed, protein and energy content of the diet, and consumption of salts, among others. However, the factors that most modify water consumption are the ambient temperature and the type of feed.

The sources of water for livestock can go from streams, lakes, rivers, puddles, lagoons, springs, and wells, but it must be fresh, clean, non-limiting, and easily accessible.

The high ambient temperature increases the water requirements or intake in animals. The increment in water intake can be between 30 and 60% in hot months.

Another factor to consider is the distance to the livestock drinkers or water troughs. The distance should ensure that rear livestock animals have access to water at least 3-4 times per day.

Why is Water Important to Raise livestock Animals?

The importance of water to animals is summarized as follows:

Water is important in the digestion of food and feeds

It is vital for fecal excretion

It is used in homeostasis in animals’ body

It is required in the milk or egg production process

It is required for cooling down the body temperature

It is required for metabolic reactions in an animal’s body

What happens when there is not enough water or it is of poor quality?

Domestic animals can live very shortly without water and this is evident in their death. However, the limitation in water consumption, it's quality (stagnant or contaminated water) or its temperature (greater than 18°C) have little effect on the highly productive and economic impact on the producer. When animals increase their heat production, due to thermal stress, it has several mechanisms to dissipate it. One of them is by drinking water to cool off their body. So if there is no water, there is overheating, and will die.

The animal begins to eat less and more slowly; first with a reduction in the potential for daily weight gain and a decrease in egg or milk production. As the days go by, the animals lose weight and become more vulnerable to all kinds of diseases and, if the situation continues, they end up dying. Animals that survive are “sensed” and more likely to acquire a disease or produce less in the next stage or stages of their lives.

Limiting access to water leads to decreased productive performance.

So as livestock feeding, nutrition, and health are being taken seriously, water intake should be taken important. When planning to establish a farm, the source of clean water to serve animals on the farm should be highly considered.

In summary, animals needed to be served sufficient and cool water, and it must be free from any forms of contamination. The water must be from a clean and healthy source and must be served with clean livestock waterers and farm animals drinkers. If animals are starved of water for a very long time, they die and that will be a loss to the farmer. Water must be available for animals at all times, except in situations where there is a need to withdraw water from them.

There are many things you need to put in place to achieve the highest productivity you desire for your agribusiness. If you can implement the following tips, your livestock farm productivity would improve：

Employ the right and diligent farm workers, and always be concerned about their welfare.

Call or remove any non-performing or underperforming animals from your flock and draw out an effective and workable plan to replace them with performing ones.

Observe all the biosecurity measures to prevent disease outbreaks that result in economic losses.

Make sure you curb any form of pilfering on your farm.

Take nutrition very seriously and make sure you give your animals adequate feeds for the best production.

Don’t forget that water is essential to animals, so your animals should not be deprived of water.

Replace any damaged or expired production material with good ones.

Take up-to-date records of every activity and inventory on your farm. This is important and essential in asset evaluation and worth.

If you’re financially capable, upgrade your farm technology to the latest one such as introducing an automatic drinking system, and feeding system, and make sure you have read and digested enough information about them.

Give appropriate vaccines and medicines to your animals and you must carry this out in the right way.

Seek professional assistance in a situation that you believe you’re incapable of handling.

Avoid wastage on your farm and be resourceful to convert any animal waste into money. Such as selling poultry manure to food crop farmers, processing dead birds to feed fish, and/or using animal dung to breed maggots and earthworms.

You will see a good result when you do the above. However, you must also consider God as an important partner for a successful business. Start with Him and He will surely guide and manage the business with you. Your farm is your property and investment. Therefore, you should put efficient and effective measures to make more profit.

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Our company headquarters is in China.

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