Effects of water sources and watering frequency for dairy cattle on water offered and milk production in Kiambu District

Abstract

Data on water sources, mode of offer, watering frequency, amount of water offered, body weights and milk yield were collected from 21 randomly selected smallholder farms in Kiambu by means of farm visits and questionnaires fortnightly. Most farms (67%) had water on-farm but 76% of them needed labour to deliver the water to the animals. Fifty two percent of the farms practised continuous watering. Water troughs (67%) were mostly used to water dairy cattle.

Farms with on-farm water offered dairy cows more (134 ml/kg live wt) water compared to those collecting (76ml/kg live wt) or purchasing (81ml/kg live wt) water. Preliminary results on milk yield using descriptive statistics show that dairy cows with on-farm water produce less milk (6.4 l/day) compared with 8.0 l/day and 9.0 l/day for those collecting or purchasing water respectively. Dairy cows using water troughs produced less milk (6.34 l/day) than those using bowls or buckets (8.44 l/day).