Posted by Nat on December 29, 2000 at 06:23:26:
In Reply to: For what it is worth posted by Vicki McGaugh on December 27, 2000 at 20:57:29:
Just to throw in my little bit, an animal that is deprived of water, and manages to loose 10% of it's bodily water will die. This is straight from my Animal Nutrition class at college. We were also taught, (but its common sense) that a witholding of water will actuially cause less optimal growth and performance. You can also really screw up rumen function, increase incidence of bloat by witholding water, ect. ect. just not a good idea in my book.
I've seen alot of people at dairy shows give an extra bottle of water to nursing kids to give them a "fuller body" in the show ring, but usually a judge can tell the difference between depth of body, and belly-full-of-water.
My opinion is don't mess with the #1 nutrient that we need - water. If you want to increase mass, do it with genetics and good breedings.
Just my 2 cents worth.
-Nat
Nat's Little Bit Farm