WATER AT WILL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 102, 11 April 1933, Page 11

WATER AT WILL

INFLUENCE ON PRODUCTION. Dairymen who want the most milk and butter-fat from their cows should arrange to let them drink as much water as they want, when they want it. The United States Bureau of Dairy industry has completed experiments to determine the relation of methods of watering cows to their water consumption and production. The tests were run both in warm and cold weather and included both high and low producing cows. The results of watering twice a day were compared with results obtained when the cows had free access to water. In these tests the cows drank more water when watered only twice a day. Their production was highest when they had water at will. The production by the cows in this experiment averaged 2.48 per cent, more milk and 2.1 per cent, more butter-fat when given free access to water than when watered only twice a day; and when watered only twice a day they produced 1 per cent, more milk and 1.4 per cent, more butter-fat than when watered only once a day. It was also found that the increase in milk production as a result of more frequent watering was more marked in the case of the good producers than in that of the low producers.