Water availability key to boosting calf health

With pens quickly filling with calves, it is important to remember how important a role water plays in their diet.

Given how busy the spring calving season is, after completing the main tasks such as feeding milk and bedding, farmers can easily forget to check a pen’s water availability.

However, water is just as important in the role of a thriving calf as milk, concentrates, and forage are.

Water

Water and starter ration are both essential ingredients for the development of the rumen.

The two are actually dependent on each other, as the rumen needs the bacterial fermentation of the starter concentrate, while fermentation is dependent on the presence of water in the rumen.

Calves will drink 1L/day during their first week of life, and will quickly rise to the point where they will need 4-5L of water for every 1kg of concentrates fed.

Each extra litre consumed can increase weight gain by 56g/day.

Studies have shown that calves offered water from birth can achieve a 38% higher average daily gain (ADG) between birth and 10 weeks-of-age as they eat 31-60% more dry feed than those not offered adequate volumes.

Providing warm water of roughly 16˚C while the weather is still cold can also help stimulate starter intake.

Be aware of high total milk solids in milk replacer as they can alter the osmotic balance in the calf by pulling water out of cells, which can result in diarrhoea and dehydration.

Ad-lib access to fresh water should allow the calf to regulate their osmotic balance, which will decrease their chances of dehydration unless dealing with advanced scour.

Access

Given the importance of water in the diet, access cannot be restricted.

The water bowl should be approximately 40cm or 16in from floor level, so that the edge of the trough is lower than the dewlap of the smallest calf in the group.

If there is more than 20 calves in the one pen, two drinkers are recommended to make sure every calf has access to clean water.

Each drinker should have a minimum flow rate of 10-20L per minute, especially as calves age to ensure the pressure going to the drinker can keep up with the demand.

The drinkers should be situated at the front of the pen where calves will be fed as to encourage intake.

Situating the drinkers at the front of the pen will also mean they can be checked and cleaned regularly.

If the water looks too grimy for you to drink, calves will also have a much lower intake.

Therefore the drinkers should be cleaned out on a regular basis.

Having raised concrete between the bedding and the drinker also helps to keep the area around the drinker clean and stops bedding from getting damp.

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