WATER USE
Ensuring your animals’ health & welfare
W
Keeping a clean, clear water
trough is a basic part of
providing adequate daily care
for your livestock. Clean water
helps keep your animals well
hydrated and healthy. Algae
naturally forms in stagnant
water and the dirty trough
problem will be compounded
by various seeds, weeds,
slobber and whatever else
your animal has in or around
its mouth whenever it reaches
into the trough to take a
drink.
Water troughs
WATER CONSUMPTION PER HEAD
need to be
Species
Litres/head/day
hygienic to
Cattle (lactating)
70
support good
Dairy cattle (grazing)
70
animal health,
Cattle (non-lactating)
45
Calves
25
and frequent
Working horses
55
emptying and
Grazing horses
35
cleaning is
Sheep
4
important.
Lambs
1
Drain all of the
Sows
25
Poultry per 100 birds
20
old water out of
Household use per person
200
the receptacle.
hen planning a
water supply for
livestock, it is
useful to know how much the
different species drinks a day.
Of course there are many
factors that influence this
intake, such as the animal's
live-weight, size, activity,
physiological state (pregnant,
lactating, etc) and age.
However there are some
averages that we can work
with (see table).
Dump or scoop any remaining debris out of the tank.
Spray vinegar into the trough
as a disinfectant. Apple cider
vinegar is thought to have
health benefits for the animals
as well.
Some people use bleach, but
be sure to rinse out two or
three times. Scrub down the
inside of the water trough
with a hard bristled scrubbing
brush until the trough is
cleaned to your satisfaction.
Rinse out with a hose.
If it is a sunny day leave the
trough empty for an hour or
two to benefit from the
antiseptic effect of UV rays.
Fill the trough with no more
than a three-day supply for
the pasture population.
Stagnant, dirty water loses its
appeal, and livestock tend to
drink it only when they must.
Regular cleaning and scrubbing is the only truly effective
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way to keep the water trough
clean.
Many smallholders use castoff bathtubs to serve as animal
watering troughs. If it is an old
cast-iron bath, it will work
very well, particularly if you
have horses. Horses enjoy
splashing in baths and they
can't break a heavy old
enamelled bath. However, if it
is a modern thin fibreglass or
acrylic bath it is more likely to
break.
If you have lambs, a bath is
problematic because they can
climb in and then not be able
to get out. Sinking the bath
into the ground might help,
but then it's more difficult to
clean.
If you need a water trough for
a single animal enclosure, cut
a plastic barrel, which was
previously used as a bulk
container for a safe liquid, in
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