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Water Use and Savings on a Dairy Farm

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Paper number  064035,  2006 ASAE Annual Meeting . (doi: 10.13031/2013.20913) @2006
Authors:   Mike Brugger, Ben Dorsey, III
Keywords:   Dairy cows, water consumption

Water use on the large dairy farms is a major concern to the neighbors. Sound data on water use and an understanding of ways to improve the management of water use is important. Thirteen water meters were used to monitor water flows on a 1,000 cow dairy for all of 2005. Cow drinking water varied by the month from a low of 12.0 to a high of 32.4 gallons per cow per day with a yearly average of 20.5. The waste water use remained more constant at a yearly average of 7.5 with a range of 6.8 to 8.3. From the metering information, the owner made adjustments that saved over 8.9 million gallons per year. The meters are also used to monitor the performance of people washing down the parlor and the equipment cleaning operations.

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