Managing water as a scarce resource in beef feedlots

Water is the single largest nutritional component in the diet but is commonly overlooked in most intensive animal enterprises in terms of actual intake and cost. This phenomenon has come about as water is not considered to be limiting in terms of supply and price. However, with the developing scarcity of water, competition for water allocation will increase along with decisions regarding expenditure on treatment and reuse of water. Hence, decision makers will require a more detailed knowledge of water requirements for the intensive livestock industry, if it is to be considered as a consumer of scarce water in the future. Using a bio-economic model, H(2)OBeef, that includes traditionally considered parameters associated with running a beef feedlot but also incorporates aspects associated with water, changes that can alter water consumption and or price are examined. The results indicate that when water does not incur a cost, the net benefits of the feedlot used as the example in this paper, are in excess of one million dollars (Australian) over a 20 year period. However, with the inclusion of reasonable water costs($1.20 to around $1.90/kL) and/or slight changes in water use within the feedlot, due to temperature changes from Greenhouse effects, the net benefits can fall to zero. Although water makes up a relatively small proportion of the total feedlot cost, if changes to water demand, supply and/or policy drive up price, then water can play a significant part in determining the economic viability of a feedlot.