Livestock Water Requirement
Free Livestock Water Requirement calculator with clear step-by-step results.
About Livestock Water Requirement
Water intake varies more than tenfold between a laying hen and a lactating dairy cow, and rises roughly 3% for every degree above 20 C. The peak supply figure matters because stock drink in bursts after milking or feeding, so a trough must refill far faster than the daily average implies.
Formulas
Daily requirement
Litres = head x base litres per head x (1 + 0.03 x (temp - 20) above 20 C)
Peak supply rate
L/min = daily total / (8 hours x 60)
Worked example
With the default values below, Livestock Water Requirement returns Daily water requirement of 6,000. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Number of animalsaccepts 1–100,000
- 60
- Species and classone of Lactating dairy cow, Beef cattle, Sheep or goat, Growing pig, Laying hen, Horse
- Lactating dairy cow
- Ambient temperatureaccepts -20–50 C
- 20 C
- Days of storage requiredaccepts 0.5–30
- 2
Results
- Daily water requirement
- 6,000 L
- Per head per day
- 100.0 L
- Storage volume needed
- 12,000 L
- Supply rate to refill within eight hours
- 12.50 L/min
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Daily requirement
- 3Peak supply rate
- 4Daily water requirement= 6,000 L
- 5Per head per day= 100.0 L
- 6Storage volume needed= 12,000 L
- 7Supply rate to refill within eight hours= 12.50 L/min
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
- Minimum water provision for farmed animals is a legal welfare requirement in most jurisdictions. Verify against the applicable code, and ensure supply is continuous and palatable rather than merely adequate on paper.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Minimum water provision for farmed animals is a legal welfare requirement in most jurisdictions. Verify against the applicable code, and ensure supply is continuous and palatable rather than merely adequate on paper.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does feed type affect water intake?
Substantially. Dry rations raise intake while lush grazing at high moisture content can supply a large part of the requirement, so dry-lot stock need more than the base figure.
Why size storage for two days?
It covers a pump failure or a supply interruption. Water is the one input stock cannot go without for even a day, particularly in heat.