title: Designing Better Water Troughs: Does Trough Color Influence Dairy Cows' Preference?
abstract: Eighteen lactating dairy cows were used to elucidate their preference for green, grey, or red troughs. The herd was managed under a rotational grazing system with ad-libitum access to water until 11:30 h. For 9 days, all cows were tested individually following the afternoon milking. Cows drank similar quantities, spent a similar amount of time drinking, and took a similar number of sips from the 3 trough colors (p > .05). In 75% of the tests, cows drank more than 95% of the test period from the same trough. Within this time, the percentage of choices did not differ among colors (33.3% green, 39.0% grey, and 27.7% red). When they chose the red trough, cows spent less time drinking (p ≤ .05) and tended to take fewer sips (p = .07), which could suggest a partial aversion to this color. Suboptimal water trough design may have long-term negative effects on both the production and welfare of dairy cattle; however, the results suggest that color does not play a major role in the drinking behavior of dairy cows.
authors.affiliation: a Laboratório de Etologia Aplicada, Departamento de Zootecnia e Desenvolvimento Rural , Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina , Florianópolis , Brazil.|b Departamento de Ciencias Animales, Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal , Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile , Santiago , Chile.
authors.forename: Dayane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lemos Teixeira
authors.affiliation: a Laboratório de Etologia Aplicada, Departamento de Zootecnia e Desenvolvimento Rural , Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina , Florianópolis , Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hötzel
authors.affiliation: a Laboratório de Etologia Aplicada, Departamento de Zootecnia e Desenvolvimento Rural , Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina , Florianópolis , Brazil.
authors.forename: Luiz Carlos
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Pinheiro Machado Filho
authors.affiliation: c Instituto Federal Catarinense - Campus Camboriú , Camboriú , Brazil.
authors.forename: José Daniel
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Cazale
authors.affiliation: a Laboratório de Etologia Aplicada, Departamento de Zootecnia e Desenvolvimento Rural , Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina , Florianópolis , Brazil.|b Departamento de Ciencias Animales, Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal , Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile , Santiago , Chile.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Enríquez-Hidalgo
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001938:Brazil; D002417:Cattle / Q000523:psychology*; D003116:Color; D003612:Dairying; D060766:Drinking Water; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D007774:Lactation; D016014:Linear Models
chemical_list: D060766:Drinking Water
keywords: Preference; color; cow; drinker; water