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Intraview
Recently Pennstate University in the USA
completed a survey of water quality at
174 Pennsylvania dairy farms with an
average 100 dairy cows.They found, that
45 farms (26%) of those tested had at
least one water-quality issue.They correlate
the average milk production for these
farms, which was at 25 litres of milk
compared to farms with good water quality
at 28 litres of milk.
Above facts and findings were the reason for Dairy
Academy Oenkerk and Intracare BV to start a
research on the effect of water line hygiene and
water quality on dairy cow and milk performance.
The dairy academy Oenkerk had around
165 cows in lactation, 20 cows in dry period and
135 calves and heifers.They already had emphasized
the importance on water quality The growth of this
farm salt into an active chlorine and add sodium to
the drinking water.
After 4 months testing, it did not give the expected
result. Apparently these systems only disinfects.
Generally known is that chlorine does not clean a
water system. It can affect the taste of water and
make rubbers brittle and stimulate oxidation of
metals. Furthermore, chlorine will chemically react
with other minerals like e.g. calcium, which can result
in less free Ca present for the animal for bone
strength (calves) and milk production (lactating cow).
On October 28
th
2015 the research
started, following the protocol to:
• analyse the water quality (by Intra Quick Clean
device in RLU) at predetermined points: source,
tank, calf bowls and troughs at heifers and cows.
• clean the empty water tank reservoir.
“Water quality
improvement
during the trial.”
Oenkerk
Dairy Academy
Dairy / Innovation / Expertise
Research of water
quality at Dairy
Academy in
the Netherlands
