Data on: Shade provision and its influence on water consumption and drinking behaviour of Nellore cattle in feedlot in a tropical environment
Description
This research aimed to investigate the differences in water drinking behaviour of beef cattle with and without the provision of shade. The study utilised Nellore steers split into two groups, one with the provision of artificial shade and one without. Over a period of 83 days the water intake behaviour, dry matter intake, and liveweights of cattle in the two groups were monitored. Data is provided across these areas with the following worksheets provided: • Drinking behaviour: 19388 recorded drinking events spanning the study period. Time of day, volume of water consumed, and duration of visits to water troughs are provided. • Dry matter intake: 3854 records covering the daily dry matter intake of all animals in the study. • Liveweight: 282 records of animal liveweights taken at six timepoint in the lead up to and during the study. • Weather: Localised weather station data with recorded values for air temperature, humidity, windspeed, and solar radiation, as well as a calculated temperature humidity index (THI) score. Data is recorded at 15 minute intervals over the study period with 7968 records for each weather metric/
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Steps to reproduce
Forty-seven animals were divided into two groups: one group with shade (+S) and another without shade (−S). Steers were housed in four pens (400m² each) for a total of 83days. To provide shade for the animals, an artificial structure was constructed with dimensions of 9m×8m (72m²), oriented in the East-West direction. The shade material used was a thermo-reflective aluminized mesh that reflects ultraviolet and infrared rays. The shade structure was designed based on reference values of 6 m² per animal and a height of 3 m (Brown-Brandl et al., 2013; Eirich et al., 2015). The manufacturer specifications ensure 78-83% shade and 32% diffused light transmission. During the experiment, the animals had unrestricted access to water and a total mixed ration. Feed delivery was adjusted daily to minimize refusals for the following day. The water used in the study was sourced from a well. Meals were provided at 07:00, 11:00, 14:00, and 16:00 hours daily. The diet composition included sugarcane bagasse (144g/kg of the total mixed diet), soybean (58g/kg), dry corn grain (739g/kg), and a mineral mix (59g/kg), with values based on dry matter basis. Individual water intake, number of visits to the water troughs (with consumption) per day, and total time spent drinking water per day were recorded with the Intergado™ System (Intergado Ltd., Contagem, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Chizzotti et al., 2015) over the 83-d period. One water trough was placed in the sunny part of each pen. Feed intake was measured using the GrowSafe™ equipment (GrowSafe Ltd., Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Mendes et al., 2011), with two units available per pen located under a small roof (Figure 1). Periodic feed samples (~weekly, i.e., every time a new batch of sugarcane bagasse was introduced) were collected from the feeders and dried in a forced-air oven at 65°C for 72hours to determine the dry matter (DM) content. The resulting value (i.e., 84.0%) was used for calculating the daily dry matter intake (DMI) of each animal. LW was used to calculate individual average daily gain (ADG, kg/d), whereas the data from the Intergado System allowed to calculate the amount of water drunk during (L/animal) and in each visit (L/visit), the mean time drinking per visit (min/visit) and the mean drinking rate (L/min). To characterize heat stress risk, dry bulb (DBT) and black globe (BGT) temperatures, relative humidity (RH) and wind speed were automatically recorded every hour, 24 hours a day, by the Embrapa weather station. The DBT and RH were used to calculate the temperature-humidity index (THI) according to the following equation: THI = 0.8 × DBT + [(RH/100) × (DBT−14.4)] + 46.4 (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1976; Thom, 1959). The coefficient of variation (CV, %) across days was calculated using the average value calculated across the animals of each group. The ratio between the maximum and the minimum mean values among animals (computed across the days) was calculated for each group.