Designing Better Water Troughs: Does Trough Color Influence Dairy Cows’ Preference?
Publication Type: |
Journal Article |
Year of Publication: |
2017 |
Authors: |
Dayane Lemos Teixeira, Maria José Hötzel, Luiz Carlos Pinheiro Machado Filho, José Daniel Cazale, Daniel Enríquez-Hidalgo |
Publication/Journal: |
Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science |
Publisher: |
Routledge |
Keywords: |
color, cow, drinker, preference, water |
ISBN: |
1088-8705 |
Abstract:
Eighteen lactating dairy cows were used to elucidate their preference for green, grey, or red troughs. The herd was managed under a rotational grazing system with ad-libitum access to water until 11:30 h. For 9 days, all cows were tested individually following the afternoon milking. Cows drank similar quantities, spent a similar amount of time drinking, and took a similar number of sips from the 3 trough colors (p > .05). In 75% of the tests, cows drank more than 95% of the test period from the same trough. Within this time, the percentage of choices did not differ among colors (33.3% green, 39.0% grey, and 27.7% red). When they chose the red trough, cows spent less time drinking (p ≤ .05) and tended to take fewer sips (p = .07), which could suggest a partial aversion to this color. Suboptimal water trough design may have long-term negative effects on both the production and welfare of dairy cattle; however, the results suggest that color does not play a major role in the drinking behavior of dairy cows.