Water intake of red deer stags consuming dryland pasture or indoors on concentrated feeds

G.K. Barrell, D.F. Topp

Animal and Veterinary Sciences Group, Lincoln College, Canterbury

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production. 1989, 49: 21-24

Two trials were conducted on water intake of red deer stages to provide a basis on which to determine water requirements for deer farms. In the first trial, water intake from a trough by 13 15-month-old deer stags was monitored for 16 days while they grazed dryland pasture during a spell of dry weather (March - April 1988) in Canterbury. Voluntary water intake (VWI) from the trough was 2.6 litre/hd/d and intake of water ingested in feed (40% DM) was estimated to be 4.2 litre/hd/d, giving a total water intake (TWI) of 6.8 litre/hd/d (or 0.19 litre/kg W0.75/d).

In the second trial, 12 3- to 5-year-old stags were held indoors in pens and fed (n=6) either pasture silage (27% DM) or pellets (88% DM) in a crossover design with Period 1 of 33 days duration and Period 2 of 25 days. VWI and DMI were monitored daily for 15 days in Period 1 and 14 days in Period 2. TWI for silage was greater than for the pellets (10.6 v 4.6 litre/hd/d, respectively) but the stags drank more water when consuming pellets. There was evidence of a linear relationship between TWI and DMI.

Keywords: NZSAPAB; Water intake; red deer; stags; dry matter intake

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Last Updated 18-03-1997