Bottles are better than buckets in winter water supply for calves

Calves require supplemental water early in life to support hydration, health, early grain intake, rumen development, and body growth. Supplying body water by feeding milk or milk substitute is not enough to optimize these performance factors. The rumen needs a separate source of pure water to feed the fermentation process that makes the rumen grow.

But in winter, it is easier to provide water to calves by free choice than to provide it to calves individually, and less labor is required. Some livestock farms stop feeding water in the winter to avoid buckets with frozen water, ice accumulation around the resting place of the calf, etc., and resume again in the spring. But this practice creates a challenge for the calves raised during that winter period.

Providing hot water with a temperature of 38 degrees Celsius through a milk bottle for 1 hour at noon daily has led to more water and feed consumption after weaning.