Livestock Water Management – rainwater has been a guarantee of successful agriculture in Northern Europe for centuries. Rainwater is naturally used for agriculture and irrigation in the UK as these two areas in farming are probably the largest users of water in agriculture. The biggest advantage of rainwater is that it’s free and usually freely available most of the year. But what about farms that mainly farm livestock?
Why is water supply so important?
Livestock Water Management supply is vital for livestock because all processes in the animal organism run in an aqueous solution. The water is used to dissolve and transport the ingested food, water maintains cell pressure in the animals and for heat regulation. Water supply also has a significant impact on the performance of the animals, growth, resilience and milk volumes in dairy cows.
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Natural water supply for the animals
Animals are naturally prepared to absorb water from flowing waters such as rivers or streams, lakes, ponds or collected rainwater and other sources of rainwater. The essential factors that ensure an optimal water supply for the animals also apply when using rainwater include the accessibility of the water through appropriate type and a number of drinkers, sufficient amount of water per animal and water quality.
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Sufficient storage and treatment of rainwater
Collection areas, water storage and feeding to the drinking troughs must be precisely tailored to the needs of the animals. In addition, reserves must be planned to take into account dry periods ensuring water supply is always available and suitable means back up to be automatically supplemented if necessary. Mains top-up valves can come under the requirements of fluid category 5which break tanks are required – download your copy here. Rainwater supply is an option for smaller farms as well as larger livestock operations as part of the overall supply.
Use rainwater economically
Collected, cleaned and treated rainwater can be used for the supply of livestock and compared to the investment in suitable rainwater tanks and filtration systems, the savings through the use of rainwater can pay for itself within a few years. We look forward to helping you with your livestock water management by capturing precious rainwater in the near future.
