Automatic drinking water measuring system for calves and young cattle won the DLG Silver medal

The automatic drinking water measuring system is the first, cost-effective process allowing to measure exactly the animal-specific drinking water consumption of calves and young cattle. The animal-specific drinking water consumption is an indicator for animals’ state of health and the development of the gastroesophageal vestibule.

Early detection of diseases

The animal-specific water intake facilitates early detection particularly of febrile diseases thus allowing to apply the necessary countermeasures in due time. The water consumption also allows to draw conclusions about the amount of calf’s basic ration and concentrate intake thus being suited to assess the development of the gastroesophageal vestibule.

Determination of ideal weaning time

Once the consumed water amount is known, the ideal weaning time can be determined. By that the feed costs for milk and milk replacer can be reduced.

The technic behind

The automatic drinking water measuring system consists of a 500 ml-measuring cylinder with level sensor technology as well as of a control unit. Commercially available waterers for calves and young cattle can be equipped with this system with low expenditure. The transponder located in the collar or in the eartag is read out by the antenna in the drinking water station and is used to identify the animals individually. The recorded data relating to animal-specific water intake are stored by the CPU of the automatic feeder or the herd management system and analyzed together with further parameters for drinking and feed intake.