4 Simple Steps to Keep Your Livestock Happy and Healthy
General B2BWater is the single most important nutrient for your livestock, so it’s essential they have access to the best drinking water. Not only is it critical for their survival but also their day-to-day performance. This is due to the numerous nutrients and health benefits animals get from their water. Your animals consume such large quantities of water, that quality is extremely relevant. The hot summer temperatures can create potential problems in livestock water. This is worrisome because these are the months that livestock’s water intake drastically increases.
Water’s role in livestock health
Water is a primary resource for transporting nutrients, hormones, and food along the gastrointestinal tract (Government of Manitoba). Adequate water intake is also crucial for maintaining animals’ body temperature, which drastically increases in the summer months. Both the quality and quantity of water given to livestock are often inaccurate, directly impacting how they look, feel and perform. It’s evident that water plays numerous roles in their well-being and can drastically influence their quality of life.
Signs that your water isn’t top-notch
There are multiple signs that your water is negatively affecting your livestock. Due to the broad range of nutrients animals get from their water, their health can be affected in numerous ways. Symptoms can vary and may be subtle, so it’s important to monitor even the slightest change in your animals:
- Declining health
- Dull coat
- Decrease in water consumption
- Inability to produce milk
What to look out for & how to prevent contaminated water
Algae Blooms – Multiple factors can contribute to less-than-ideal drinking water. The summer months are especially difficult because of the drastic spike in how much water your livestock is consuming. The hot weather can also cause algae blooms in their water, to avoid this, it’s recommended you try to place troughs in a shaded area.
Organics – Another concern for water is the number of organics that can affect the PH or may be unhealthy for your animals to consume. Unfortunately, this can be near-impossible to avoid. Try cleaning the troughs every week and monitor them as much as possible for excess amounts of organics.
Sick animals – A serious concern for potential water contamination is not isolating sick animals. Ideally, there should be separate housing and feeding areas for situations like this. This is also ideal for new arrivals to prevent potential infection of your existing livestock.
Antibacterial Treatment – Investing in your livestock health is extremely worthwhile. Antibacterial treatments for livestock water quality contain a wide spectrum of healthy microorganisms and are proven to enhance performance, digestion and protect against harmful pathogens. There are only so many factors in life that you can control, your animals’ health should be one of them.
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