20 October 2026

Clean drinking water critical to cattle performance

The importance of clean drinking water in cattle production should not be underestimated, particularly in finishing systems where animals are fed high concentrate diets.

That’s according to Dr. Aisling Claffey, Ruminant Nutritionist at Teagasc, who joined the recent Future Beef Webinar: Better Nutrition, Faster Finishing, More Profit.

Through the webinar, Aisling Claffey joined Dr. Peter Doyle and Dr. Mark McGee, Teagasc, and Sean Power, a beef finisher from Co. Kilkenny, where practical tips on how to improve cattle performance and profit this winter were provided.

Speaking about the role of water in animal nutrition, Aisling Claffey said: “The importance of water is very easily overlooked on farm”, noting that a 600kg animal can drink between 50 and 75 litres of water daily, with adequate access supporting overall dry matter intake, particularly where cattle are consuming high levels of concentrates and drier feeds.

Turning to research, she cited a study from Willms and Lardner which indicated that faecal contamination of drinking water can reduce finishing cattle weight gain by 20-23% compared with cattle supplied with clean well water.

Additionally, she stressed the importance of ensuring water troughs are accessible, regularly cleaned and large enough to accommodate group sizes, particularly where more dominant animals may prevent some animals from drinking freely.

Sharing a farmer’s experience, Sean Power outlined how changes to the water troughs on his farm has made cleaning easier: “We took that on board last spring and changed most of the drinking troughs to ones you can tip over,” he said.

This had made cleaning a routine task, he explained, even when someone else was looking after the cattle: “If you put them in properly the first day, it’s money well spent,” he added.

For further information, a recording the Future Beef webinar: Better Nutrition, Faster Finishing, More Profit is available to view below: