Effects of Surface Soil Temperature on Daily Water Intake in Feedlot Cattle

The relationships among soil surface temperature (SST), soil temperature (ST) (4 inches depth) and daily water intake (DWI) were studied using data collected between 2004 and 2006. The equations obtained through simple and polynomial linear regression were evalu¬ated using data collected during the summer 2007. An overall model (May-October) and a summer model (June-August) were developed. The best fit was reached with the overall model using SST in a quadratic model (r2 = 0.86), whereas the summer model fit linearly with SST (r2 = 0.70). Both models tend¬ed to slightly over-predict DWI (13.5% and 12.5%, respectively)