3 – Water Quality Flashcards
Water importance and factors
- *most important nutrients
- Livestock guidelines available
o Change depending on ‘demand’ on life stage - Temperature
- Activity level
- Physiological status
- Type of ratio
What are the types of water systems for livestock?
- Ground and/or surface water
o Wells
o Troughs
o Dug outs
o River, ponds, lakes
o Automatic
o Indoor system: nipple/swig drinkers
What are some sources of contamination of water?
- Soil
- Nearby industrial operations
- Agricultural run-off
o Manure and fertilizers - *influenced by weather: rainfall, snow melt, drought
What are the most common problems for livestock with poor water quality?
- Decreased performance
o Growth
o Reproduction
o Milk production - *from chronic consumption
o acute poisoning is rare, but exceptions exist
What does total dissolved solids (TDS) measure?
- Total concentration of ions soluble in water or total salts in water
o Positive charge: Na, Ca, Mg
o Negative charge: SO4, Cl, HCO3 - Groundwater GREATER THAN surface water
What does a higher TDS in water mean in terms of palatability?
- *higher TDS in water=POOR PALITABILITY
- Values depend on what species you are looking at
o Is acceptable or unsuitable?
What would more salts in water do/be seen as?
- More charge=greater ability of water to conduct electricity
o *electrical conductivity
What are sulfates and what do you need to consider?
- Sodium sulfate, magnesium sulfate, calcium sulfate
o COMPONENT of TDS (will be lower than TDS)
o <500, pigs and poultry more sensitive
o >4000=risk of death - *need to consider total dietary sulfur exposure
What are the sources of sulfates?
- Soil
- Rock
- Effluent from industry
What are some problems with sulfates in water?
- Decreased intake: palatability
- Diarrhea
- Decreased copper absorption in ruminants
o Secondary copper deficiency - Polioencephalomalacia
Secondary copper deficiency in ruminants
- Copper, molybdenum and sulfates form an insoluble complex=prevents it from being absorbed in SI
- Cu is part of many important enzymes
o Get a more red coat: tyrosinase involved in pigment formation - *most common thing currently seen in diagnostic lab
What are the herd level issues with secondary copper deficiency?
- Diarrhea
- High open rate
- Unthrifty
- Increased infections
o Ex. calves will have an increased rate of respiratory disease
Polioencephalomalacia: species and clinical features
- Ruminants
- Exact mechanism is not known
- Star-gazing
- Wandering
- Twitching, chewing
- Nystagmus, blindness
- Recumbency
- Seizures
Nitrate + Nitrite in water
- Agricultural run-off
- Predominantly a ruminant problem
- Methemoglobinemia produced: acute respiratory distress and death
- Safe: <10-20mg/L NO3-N
- Potentially dangerous: >40mg/L NO3-N
Metals and materials sources
- Naturally occur in rock
- Effluent from industry
Metals and minerals
- Trace minerals: not a significant contribution to dietary requirements
- NOT general causes of acute poisoning
- *palatability issues: metallic taste
o Iron
o Copper
o Manganese
o Zinc
What are other MINOR factors to consider in the water?
- pH
- temperature: 4-15 degrees C
- hardness (Mg, Ca)
- Coliforms: from poop
o >1/100ml: diarrhea in calves
o >20/100ml: diarrhea in cattle
What are some water-associated toxicological problems?
- Blue green algae
- Water deprivation sodium ion toxicosis (“salt poisoning”)
- Water hemlock
- Botulism
Water testing
- water quality varies year to year, even within a season
o can NOT rely on previous year’s data - annual testing as baseline
- OR do if concerns about water quality or performance is decreasing
