CONSUMO DE ÁGUA DE VACAS LEITEIRAS MESTIÇAS EM PASTEJO

The aim of this work was to evaluate the behavior of water intake of crossbred dairy cows (Holstein x Zebu) grazing Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandu under rotational stocking and correlate with meteorological variables and milk yield. Sixteen multiparous cows with 548 ± 61.0 kg and 70 ± 18.1 days in lactation were used. The average total water intake and milk yield of cows were 58kg of water/day and 19.25 kg/day respectively. The variables of better correlation with water intake were milk yield (r =0.20), maximum temperature (r =0.27) and relative humidity (r =-0.34).