Analysis of Water Quality for Livestock

Animals are able to ingest a wide variety of different types of water and survive.However, some salts and elements, at high levels, may reduce animal growth and production or may cause illness and death.The measures used to evaluate water quality include salinity, hardness, pH, sulfate, nitrate and analysis for other specific elements known to be toxic.Waters can be evaluated for these characteristics at university or commercial laboratories.Microbiological agents (bacterial, viral and protozoan) can be spread through water and cause disease.These are not usually evaluated in livestock waters, but samples could be submitted to an animal disease diagnostic laboratory for culture.Only certain laboratories are prepared to test for pesticides and organic toxins.