Working Papers

Water is an essential component of the dairy industry. Water is required at various stages of dairy farming, including Water is required at various stages of dairy farming, including animal cleaning, drinking, and processing. Sustainable water management is one of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century, as freshwater resources become scarce. Several factors influence water use assessment on a dairy farm, including breed selection, herd size, maintaining, feeding, and milking technology. Climate change poses a threat to dairying due to temperature fluctuations and water scarcity. Indian dairying has a high water footprint, and its major production hotspots ? Punjab, Haryana, North Gujarat, Western UP, and Tamil Nadu ? are in severely water-stressed regions. The purpose of this research is to determine the water footprint of various breeds in Banaskantha. It also intends to investigate various aspects of water management in the dairy production sector in Gujarat?s Banaskantha district. This paper presents a broad picture of the average water required for cow and buffalo milk production in Banaskantha. It takes into account the direct consumption of water by milch animals for drinking, feed and fodder, and cleaning. The milch animal consumes an average of 57.34 litres of water per day. A milch animal requires 98.13 litres of water per day in Banaskantha, which includes drinking water and water consumed through feed fodder. Daily cleaning water consumption per dairy animal is 12.14 litres. The study shows that drinking water has a significant impact on milk production of milch animals.