Make drought part of your water plan

It is said that drought conditions will become a normal feature of the landscape in future. If this is indeed going to be the case, it means that producers will have to incorporate this aspect into their normal on-farm planning.

- Dr. WA Lombard

Apart from the fact that less grazing is available during drought conditions, the supply of drinking water can pose a major challenge. While livestock can go without feed for approximately three weeks, they can only survive for two to three days without water. Water is after all one of the core requirements of all living organisms.

Water requirements of livestock

Table 1 shows how much water livestock requires per day. However, this is only a guideline as environmental factors such as temperature, as well as the activities of livestock and their dry matter intake, will influence these amounts.

European cattle breeds will drink around 3l of water for every kilogram of dry matter ingested at an ambient temperature of 5°C and will drink roughly 8l of water per kilogram of dry matter ingested at an ambient temperature of 32°C. Indigenous breeds usually need less drinking water compared to their European counterparts. The water intake of sheep will be two to three times their dry matter intake. Their water intake during summer is also considerably more than in winter.

Of course, the water available must also be clean and palatable. Contaminated troughs can lead to microbial growth, which affects the water’s palatability and can even cause disease. Troughs must preferably be cleaned at least once every three days; in the case of a feedlot, it can be done daily to boost feed intake.

Extra water should be stored, and producers must have a water supply of at least ten days at their disposal.

A water cart can be used if this supply is exhausted.

Water supply options