Drinking water for livestock is the biggest form of water usage in agriculture in England, on average 15m3per livestock unit per year (Defra, 2010)
How much water is used for Grazing livestock?
- Dairy farms use the largest amount, combining 34 million m3 for drinking water and 11 million m3 for wash down
- Grazing livestock farms and mixed farms are more likely (60% and 46%) to use water from rivers and streams or springs than cropping and pig / poultry farms
- Livestock products provide one third of the human protein intake but also consume almost one third of the water used in agriculture globally
- Livestock grazing is also the single largest user of land globally. (International Water Management Institute, 2011)
Source – Water Usage in Agriculture and Horticulture, Results from the Farm Business Survey 2009/10, and the Irrigation Survey 2010, Defra and National Statistics
Alternatives to direct access watering
- Animal operated pumps– can provide a low cost pumping system and can easily be moved from one water source to another, although cattle need to be trained to use the pump
- Stream flow – if there are strong and constant currents in a stream, there energy can be used to power a pumping device. However if a stream is to be diverted a licence is required from the Environment Agency
- Solar power pumping systems – an advantage to these is that they naturally work on sunny days when cattle drink more, however storage needs to be incorporated in order to supply water requirements for 3-4 days
- Wind powered pumping systems – the rotary motion of the proprietor is used to drive a pump that moves water to a storage reservoir. However again sufficient storage is needed to maintain supply in periods without wind
For more information on water management and grazing stock please read the guidance from the HCC website which is accessible here.