NDS, as a nutritional platform, has the aim to cover all main aspects of the ruminant nutrition.
For all productive animals and mainly for dairy cows, water is required in the largest quantity per day and water supplies are becoming subjects of increasing importance for livestock productivity.
These reasons and the fact that water is intimately involved in all physiological and metabolic functions of the organism convinced us to develop the NDS Water Sub-model in order to quantify the effects of water supply to lactating cows.
The sub-model consists of three main components:
1. Water intake prediction;
2. Water mineral supply;
3. Water turnover.