Importance of Measuring Water Intake in Dairy Animals: A Review

Abstract

Importance of water for dairy animals is known since immortal time. These days, availability
of quality water for dairy animals in many parts of the world has become a challenge. Water is
considered as most important nutrient for dairy animals and should be given priority. It is used for
drinking, feeding, cleaning, and many other dairy farm operations. Water intake is affected by several
factors like production levels, body weight, dry matter of feed offered, mineral contents, ambient
temperature, etc. Apart from these aspects water intake, now days, can be used to predict milk yield, dry
matter intake, daily gain and even oestrus level too. Restricting water intake may affect drinking
behavior of cows. These days, advance systems are used to measure the accurate amount of water
intake by the dairy cows so that other related aspects could be studied more effectively. Effective study
of water consumption under different physiological states of dairy animals may help in understanding
dairy production in a better way. This article aims to enlighten new horizons of water intake for dairy
animals which may help in effective and progressive ways to create easiness in animal welfare and
farm operations.