“They don’t need water access; there’s enough in the grass.”

I’ve heard this line more than once from livestock graziers. Typically, the “no water” strategy is used for high-moisture forages such as winter rye, triticale, or wheat, but ryegrass might also fall into this category.

According to Paul Beck, a beef cattle nutrition specialist with Oklahoma State University (OSU), little research has been done to actually see if drinking water is needed when cattle graze succulent forage grasses.

In a recent issue of OSU’s Cow-Calf Corner newsletter, Beck reports that researchers at OSU recently investigated the influence of drinking water access on animal performance, forage intake, and blood responses in steers grazing wheat pasture. For 35 days, Angus-cross steers were either offered free-choice access to water or restricted from water intake other than what was provided by the forage.

Average daily gains were nearly a half-pound per day greater for steers given free-choice access to water (2.76 pounds per day) than water-restricted steers (2.29 pounds per day). Reduced access to water did not affect forage intake or blood packed-cell volume.

Blood creatinine and albumin concentrations were greater for steers that were deprived of water. On Day 7, serum sodium and phosphorus concentrations were significantly higher in water-restricted steers than steers offered additional water. Mean serum phosphorus concentrations were also significantly higher in water-restricted steers compared to watered steers. Beck explains that changes in serum component concentrations were indicative of a loss of extracellular fluid.

“Despite the lower average daily gain in water-restricted steers, performance of steers in both treatment groups were within reported values for cattle grazing wheat pasture, but the increase in performance indicates the importance of fresh, clean drinking water for growing calves,” Beck asserts.

In summarizing the experiment, the beef specialist notes that steers deprived of drinking water can effectively utilize free water in succulent forages with no adverse health effects but expect a drop in performance.

“Access to free-choice drinking water is advisable to minimize the likelihood of acute dehydration and optimize performance gains in stocker cattle grazing wheat pasture,” Beck concludes.