Abstract Water is an essential nutrient, yet there is a dearth of information regarding differences in sex and breeds of cattle in terms of water consumption behavior. Finishing steers and heifers of varying proportions of Angus and Limousin genetics were monitored over the finishing period for water consumption behavior. Angus, Lim-Flex, and Limousin bulls were bred to commercial Angus cows, the resulting steers (S) and heifers (H) evaluated were Angus 100% (A100L0; 35S, 37H), Angus 75% and Limousin 25% (A75L25; 32S, 38H), and Angus 50% and Limousin 50% (A50L50: 35S, 36H) for a total of 213 animals. Individual water and DM consumption data were collected through automated watering and feeding systems (Insentec Intake Control, Hokofarm B.V., Marknesse, the Netherlands). Time spent at the water trough (min) was recorded on a per day and per visit basis. Water intake was assessed per day, per visit, per unit of DM intake (DMI), and per minute of drinking basis. Data were analyzed with the fixed effects of breed, sex, and their interaction, with days on feed as a covariate. Polynomial contrasts were obtained for the proportion of breed composition. A sex × breed interaction for the number of liters per visit (P = 0.03) was noted. Steers from A100L0 had the greatest water consumption per visit (6.74 L/visit) and heifers from A100L0 consumed the least amount of water per visit (5.11 L/visit); all other groups were intermediate. No other interactions between sex × breed were detected (P ³ 0.36). Water intake per kg of DMI increased linearly as the proportion of Limousin increased (P = 0.05; with 2.28, 2.39 and 2.43 L/kg of DMI, for A100L0, A75L25, and A50L50, respectively), but breed did not affect daily water intake (P = 0.71) or any other water consumption parameters (P ³ 0.14). Heifers had more visits per day than steers (P = 0.04; 4.38 vs. 4.10 visits/d, respectively). Steers tended to spend more time drinking per day than heifers (P = 0.10; 7.01 vs 6.45 min/d, respectively) and spent more time drinking per visit (P 0.01; 1.74 vs. 1.50 min/visit, respectively). Steers drank more water than heifers, both per day (P 0.01; 24.75 vs. 22.32 L/d, respectively), and per visit (P 0.01, 6.22 vs 5.22 L/min, respectively). Water consumption per min of visit was unaffected by sex (P = 0.13, average 3.83 L/min). Results from the current study show the sex effect on liters consumed per visit depends on the breed composition. As Limousin proportion increased, cattle drank more per kg of DMI. While heifers visited the waterer more times, steers spent more time drinking and drank more water than heifers, but sex did not influence water consumption rate.
DeBoer et al. (Wed,) studied this question.