Effects of drinking water temperatures on water intake and milk yield of tied-up dairy cows

The effect of four drinking water temperatures (3, 10, 17 and 24°C) on water intake, feed consumption, milk yield and composition, live weight, salt consumption, and rumination, was studied with eight tied-up dairy cows of the Swedish Red and White Breed. The cows were in their 12th to 15th week of lactation at the start of the experiment. A Latin Square design was used with four periods of three weeks each in length. The cows were fed 9 kg hay, 2 kg dried molassed beet pulp and 9 kg concentrates throughout the experiment. The study was conducted from March until June in an average daily barn temperature of 15.3°C (10.2–23.7°C).Water intake was 75.6, 76.7, 76.9 and 71.5 1/day for 3, 10, 17 and 24°C respectively. The intake of the warmest water differed significantly (P<0.01) from the others. The corresponding figures for the milk yield were 25.39, 25.93, 26.33 and 26.09 kg 4% fat-corrected milk per day, where a t-test showed a significance of P<0.05 between 3 and 10°C, P<0.001 between 3 and 17°C and P<0.01 between 3 and 24°C. Feed and salt consumption, milk composition, live weight and rumination were not affected by treatment.