The free drinking of water does not diminish the gains of animals 

 nor increase the breaking down of protein in the body, though (lush- 

 ing the intestines with much water may at first cause a more complete 

 removal of the nitrogenous waste therefrom. With animals which 

 continue to drink freely, the nitrogenous waste soon becomes normal 

 again. Scientists now agree that farm animals should have all the 

 water they will drink, for they do not take it in excess unless they are 

 forced to live on watery foods or are given salt irregularly. The 

 excess of water taken into the body is discharged through the urine. 



Water taken into the body must be raised to the temperature of the 

 body. Warrington points out that during winter sheep in the turnip 

 fields of England consume about twenty pounds of the roots daily, 

 containing over eighteen pounds of water, or about fifteen pounds 

 more than is needed. To raise fifteen pounds of water from near 

 the freezing point to the body temperature requires the heat evolved 

 in the body by burning nutrients found in the turnips, equivalent 

 to three ounces of glucose, or about eleven per cent of their total food 

 value. In addition, the equivalent of more than two ounces of glucose 

 must be burned for each pound of water vapor given off from the lungs 

 and skin. Warming cold water taken into the body does not neces- 

 sarily mean that more food must be burned, for animals evolve a 

 large amount of heat in the work of digesting food and converting the 

 digested matter into the body products or work. Due to this, many 

 animals have an excess of body heat. Comfortably housed and well-fed 

 steers and dairy cows burn more food than is needed to keep their bodies 

 warm, and such excess may go to warm the water they drink, so that 

 no food is directly burned for that purpose. 



Armsby points out that in winter farm animals, watered but once 

 daily, drink freely. The sudden demand for heat caused by taking 

 into the body this large quantity of cold water may exceed the avail- 

 able supply. The result is that some of the food nutrients or body 

 tissues are burned to meet it. Animals unduly exposed to cold and 

 those sparingly fed or with scant coats may be directly helped by 

 watering frequently or by warming their drinking water. In cold 

 regions in order to induce animals, especially cows, to drink freely in 

 winter, it is usually best to warm the water, which should be com- 

 fortably accessible. 



AIR 



PURE air is a vital requirement for animals. A close, restricted, 

 unventilated barn impairs digestion, restricts growth and produc- 

 tion, and is the chief cause of tuberculosis, both in hogs and cattle. 

 Henry says : "The first and most vital requirement of animals is air." 



