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Drinkers and Water Quality Featured Articles
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Time to Test the Water
By Bill Raufer, Pork Magazine - A pig's cooling system depends on water -- and performance suffers when it does not get enough. Areas that suffers most are growth, gain and feed conversion.
With summer upon us, consider taking the time to assess your operation's summer-watering situation. That worthwhile advice comes from Todd See, Extension swine specialist at North Carolina State University.
He points to research to back up his recommendations: "When the environmental temperature rises from 59°F to 95°F, a 75-pound pig's water needs increases by 57 percent. A 250-pound animal needs 63 percent more water for cooling, growth and gains. A gestating sow has to consume 3 to 5 gallons a day and a nursing sow, 8 to 10.5 gallons."
To assess the adequacy of your watering system to meet increased hot-weather demands, See recommends using this checklist:
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(June 2002)
