FARM AND DAIRY

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXXVII, Issue 9204, 31 March 1938, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY

WATER FOR STOCK PURE SUPPLIES NEEDED ANIMALS’ VARYING NEEDS Water is the cheapest and most important constituent of the diet of all classes of live stock, and, until that fact is recognised and adequate provision made for supplying ample quantities of clean, fresh water to the stock, maximum results cannot be expected, no matter how liberal the dry ration may be. In this connection we recall the answer given by the owner of a record-breaking dairy cow when asked what he considered to be the cheapest and best form of food for high-yielding cows. “Pure water,” he replied, “so long as the water is put in the cow, not in the milk can.”

The importance of water to the dairy cow should be readily understood when it is realised that milk is approximately 87 per cent, water. It should be obvious that unless the cow has access to a plentiful supply of fresh, clean and palatable water, her milk flow will suffer. Tests have shown that a high producing cow may consume as much as 25 to :t0 gallons of water per day, and the wise dairy farmer will make sure that sufficient is at all times within easy reach of his herd. This applies not only to dairy cows but also to all other classes of stock. Although fat animals contain proportionately less water than those in lean condition, at least 4 0 per cent, of the weight of the fat pig will be water, while the same constituent will comprise more than 50 per cent, of the bulk of the fat sheep or the fat bullock In the store slice]) or store bullock t lie proportion may be as high as 00 per cent, and, in young animals, even higher.

DIGESTIVE AID Many functions of the animal body are dependent on a sufficiency of water. Thus water is needed to bring the chewed food to the right consistency, so that it will pass along the digestive tract. The actual digestion of the food involves the secretion by the animal of large quantities of saliva and digestive juices, the major constituent of which is water. The working horse, for instance, may secrete as much as 10 gallons of saliva in a day, while, | with cattle, the daily secretion may amount to as much as 15 gallons. In the dairy cow rumination or “chewing the cud,” depends on a sufficient percentage of water being available. The contents of the rumen or paunch normally will contain about. 50 per cent, water, and should the proportion fall below this, rumination will be delayed and finally, if the contents become too dry, it ceases altogether. This much of the so-called “dry bible” is merely the cessation of rumination due to impaction of the rumen with a mass of food which is too dry to permit of it being transferred back to the mouth for further mastication. No form of treatment which does not ensure the moistening of the inert mass has any chance of success. A further function of water in the diet of the animal is associated with lhe fact that most of the nutrients are absorbed from the digestive tract in solution, and are carried throughout the body in the blood stream. The blood itself contains approximately 80 per cent, water and, if the health of the animal is to be preserved, that concentration must be kept very constant. Should water be withheld from the animal the blood will maintain its correct concentration for some time by drawing fluid from the tissues. Eventually, however, that source fails, the blood | gradually becomes too concentrated, and the animal soon dies. Again, most, of the waste products are removed from the body in watery solutions as cither urine or sweat, both of which consist mainly of water. Apart from the fact that it assists in the elimination of these waste products, the evaporation of sweat from the body aids materially in controlling body temperature. Yet another function of water is that it enables the elasticity of the body tissues to lie maintained. This will be readily understood when one contrasts the resilience of the skin and muscles of a live animal with those same tissues after death and after they have boon dried by exposure to the sun.