What Do Cows Drink? Water, Milk or Both? (Video)

What do cows drink? Is it milk or water? We’ll explore what cows drink at different stages of life, and the importance of water for their health. 

Cows are fascinating aimals that provide beef and milk to people around the world.  As a beef cattle farmer, we receive lots of questions about what our cows drink and eat. Do they drink milk? Do they drink water? And what do they do when it’s winter and ponds are frozen over? How do they get their water? Some people think these are trick questions, but the answers might surprise you!

In this blog post we’ll explore what cows drink at different stages of life, and the importance of water for their health. 

Do Cows Drink Milk?

A common misconception is that adult cows drink milk. However, this is not true — adult cows drink water, not milk. Only baby cows, called calves, drink milk during the early stages of their lives.

Why Do Calves Drink Milk?

When a calf is born, it relies on its mother’s milk for nutrition and growth. The first milk produced by a mother cow is called colostrum, which is rich in antibodies and essential nutrients that help calves develop strong immune systems.

Baby calves drink their mom’s milk for about six-months.  Then, we wean them and they drink water.

Why do they wean them? There are several reasons. First, the mom stops producing milk at about six-months. Second, as the calf grows, he can get more nutrients from the grass verses the milk. The milk is very important in the beginning, but once he is about six-months old (about 500 lbs), it’s better for him to grow and gain muscle from the grass’s nutrients.

On our farm, we practice what’s called “fence-line weaning.” Fence-line weaning is an industry-best practice because it’s lower stress on the cow and calf. The fence-line weaning process looks like this: cows and calves are kept in the same field together for months so that the calves are very familiar with their surroundings, including the field’s water and feed sources. Then, we move the cows to another field that is adjacent to the calves, but separated by a fence. The cows and calves have nose-to-nose contact and can hear and see each other, but the the calf can’t drink its mother’s milk. Generally, within about three-days, the calves are fully weaned and they only want to eat grass from that time forward.

Do Adult Cows Drink Milk?

No, adult cows drink water.

How Much Water Do Cows Drink?

Cows drink a surprising amount of water every day. The exact amount depends on several factors, including their size, diet, and temperature. Here’s a general guideline:

• Beef Cows: Drink 7 to 20 gallons of water per day
• Dairy Cows: Drink 30 to 50 gallons of water per day

This means a single dairy cow can drink enough water to fill a bathtub every day!

How Do Farmers Ensure Cows Have Enough Water?

Water quality and quantity are very important to farmers. Every farm is different, but on our farm, we have three main water sources: fresh spring water, ponds and automatic waterers.

• Natural water sources — like our fresh spring and pond — are fairly self explanatory and are what most people think of when they think of how a cow drinks.
• An automatic waterer (that’s not a typo.There really is an “-er” on the end of “water”) is a unique water system that contains fresh well water. We can adjust the temperature slightly so that the water doesn’t fereze in the winter. Our cattle love the waterers, and we do too. If we didn’t have the automatic waterers, we would have to break the ice in our ponds so that the cattle could access the water.

Here’s a video with Matt showing off one of our automatic waterers.

In addition to getting water, springs and ponds help keep cattle cool on hot days — swimming, anyone?!

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