Yesterday as I walked about in the heat with my hose making sure animals had water to stand in and cold water in their troughs I began to wonder about how much water I was using. How much water is needed to run a sustainable, organic farmy.
So I did a little research.
Daisy (milking dairy cow) will consume between 30 and 40 gallons of water a day. It takes 4 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of milk. She produces over 7 gallons a day.
Queenie (beef heifer) will drink 15 – 20 gallons a day. The steer will drink the same. It takes 3 gallons of water to produce one hamburger pattie. Though pound by pound chicken takes massively less water than beef. Hmm. The chickens will drink about a pint each a day.
Mama (a lactating ewe) will drink 2-3 gallons a day and the other sheep at least 1 gallon.
.Why is there a lamb on my verandah again! She was given a bottle of water and sent back to her flock.
All our animals are on green grass so they need less water than a dry feedlot animal. An animal on a dry diet on a hot day needs more. But already we are using a lot of water.
But how about this! It takes 518 gallons of water to make each tire for your car whether it is an electric car or not. I am not even going to tell you how many gallons it takes to make a whole car, it is astronomical.
The pigs will drink 1/2 a gallon a day. And my pigs will throw huge amounts of water about in play but we are not counting Water Play! 
It takes 1,800 gallons of water to grow enough cotton for your jeans. So wear them until they are worn out!
The plastic bottle containing your bottled water takes 1 1/2 gallons of water to make. Thankfully you and I do not buy bottled water, we filter it ourselves. But how much water and oil was needed to make the filtering jug. And the filter! Now don’t start me on oil.. back to water.
.A hive of bees will drink about a quart of water a day. By yesterday afternoon this dripping tap was heaving with bees. Cooling the hive was a priority for them yesterday.
But what about a pound of organic lettuce? 23 gallons of water. This includes the growing and the processing.
It takes 3 gallons of water to produce one organic tomato!
2847 gallons for a pound of chocolate.. oh dear.. well I never much liked chocolate anyway. Though this figure seemed inflated so I checked it with three different sources. And it seems right. The cocoa bean must be a thirsty plant.
Now for the kicker: 2, 100 gallons of water to produce one gallon of ethanol. Though around here corn is not irrigated. But many many corn and soy crops are irrigated across the country.
What about an apple? Or a head of brocolli. Oh dear.
As I write this I have already turned the morning sprinkler on in the vege garden. So it waters before the sun comes up to evaporate most of it. Two gardens are watered each day. They are on a four day rotation to encourage deep roots. But I have found estimates of 240 gallons – 600 gallons per hour using a sprinkler. We use well water. Good cold water from deep in the earth.
I guess I have some work to do as to conserving water on the farmy.
That is what happens when it is too hot to work outside. I get to depress myself with numbers. However you know how I feel. The world wide water shortage problem is too big for me. So I shall work on my small solveable problems. By growing my own and working hard to use less water. We can only do what we can do. That is a stupid sentence but it is true.
Still. It takes a lot of water to keep a cow.
Good morning. It was hot yesterday but there was a breeze and it only reached 100. I discovered (now that we have discussed how much water I am wasting,) that if I weed in the spray of the sprinkler I can work for longer and the weeds come out easier!! Bad water girl!
I opened the barn for all the animals to come and go but they scorned the barn and stood under the trees instead. Of course the sheep were allowed to go into their root cellar and were not seen all day. All except Minty of course. So that was a lesson learned and the big barn doors are closed again to keep it cool in there for the baby animals.
Today is dawning dreadfully hot. Humid and still. It might rain. But then again it may not. So no holding our breaths!
Have a good day.
celi
ps A gallon equals = 3.78 litres.
The Kitchen's Garden 
68 responses to “Water, water everywhere, give me a drop to drink”
How refreshing to go from the depressing newspaper to hearing about all the water it takes to do mundane tasks at home. Not wanting to feel depressed I am focusing on the photo of Minty on the porch being naughty. She seems to be capable of encouraging smiles, thank goodness…
It is an easy fix though ronnie, buy less. the less we consume the less is built using all this water. Pick a few biggies, beef, tires and jeans. We can do that! c
How about all the water it takes to keep Golf Courses perfectly groomed?
Great post, Celi, and quite the eye opener. I once saw something about water needs for growing a number of our crops but nothing about the animals and certainly not its requirements for manufacturing something like a car. Our Great Lakes become more and more valuable each day.
Have a great day, Celi. Take the afternoon off!
Watch out for the albatross 😉
That one around my neck you mean!?.. c
or is that a monkey.. c
I never used to be so aware of how much water I used when I was in London…I just opened the tap and there it was. Now I like in such a hot dry place…it´s very important. Our water does come from way Up the Mountain but unfortunately the powers that be chlorinate it before it reaches us. So for drinking and cooking water we go right to the source a couple of times a week and water late at night and early evening. We have a pool too which kind of makes me feel a bit guilty….but apart from that i know we´re not wasteful so I allow myself the luxury!
we used to do that in portugal too.. and it was such an old tradition.. wonderful really.. c
Hi ..returned from family gathering where in Vermont it poured for 3 solid days. So I tried to
soak it in knowing that we have broken records for consecutive 100 degree days and fires
rage here in colorado. CRAZY…from lush to parched. Out to the garden to see how
things did with my dear neighbor taking care.
I missed you and the farmy….
welcome home, pity you could not throw all your clothes out and pack a rain cloud in your suitcase!! c
Can’t tell you how much I appreciate what goes through your head on a day too hot for outdoor activity.
i think i talk to myself too much, at least with the blog i get to talk to you!! morning carlotta! c
Oh that little lambie! Cute visitor. Temps are lower under trees – we notice it here in the yard. No walls to block what breeze there is?
Some feel water and water rights will be the next big issue. Great post that points out how much we use. (grass fed animals are healthier and happier. Now I know it’s a water conservation effort, too!)
I feel crops like corn should never be used as fuel when so many are hungry – I don’t care if it is “green”. How arrogant: I’ll deprive someone of food source just so I can drive around. (Sigh, but like you say, you can only do what you can do.)
Maybe it would help if people considered all the manufacturing costs of energy and water before buying a “new” trendy replacement – just because the one that’s there is “old” (but still serviceable).
Heat must be getting to me. Will gaze at happy lambs and pig.
Try to stay cool!
I agree, it seems crazy to drive the price of corn up just to fill semis up for their cross country marathons! I heard a while ago that every 6th row of corn goes to fuel! .06 as in Zero SIX percent of American corn is exported. Amazing isn’t it. This who feed the world cry is dubious advertising.. c
Hehe! Nice post C 🙂 Loved the photographs. Have a nice day!
i had no idea about any of this. i am an ashamed consumer! i’m moving to scotland. i want to live where it rains and is cool all the time! i got up at 4:00 am to beat the heat this morning an it was already 85 with the humidity in the high 60 percentile. ugh!
How interesting – really brings home the point that water is such a necessary and precious resource, which maybe we tend to forget sometimes..
There’s a good reason for my need to live by water! Phew what scary stats.
Being on an island, water is especially precious. We do not take it for granted and do have to think about how we use it. In fact, one of our small lakes, a major water source is so filled with algae that the water cannot be used just now. The people who rely on that source now have to haul water for drinking.
The planet can only take so much and we’ve been negligent.
How interesting! I knew that farming, animals, and even my home organic garden all take “tons” of water…but I didn’t have any mathematical factoring to consider. I think we are aware, but often unsure of where to cut back…it’s a big concern, or should be, for us all. Although I live in a “city” environment, we are actually on a well that dates back to the Native Americans who lived here first, and the settling of the Missions–one of the 21 California Missions is in my city. We have excellent water and I think we sometimes treat it as limitless. Enjoyed this, Celi. Debra
That’s a LOT of water to run a farmy, but I would bet we all use way more than we imagine. It’s so dry here right now, and I have used the hose to keep my potted plants and little garden alive and I thought I was being careful, but reading this I think I can do better.
Good grief! I’ve read some of these figures before; others, you’ve enlightened me on. Aye-yiyi!
Cows making milk must of necessity drink more than bulls and steers, no? I don’t think our horses ever drank that much, not that I measured. All of this is really eye-opening. Of course the hope is that our cars last many years. Still …lots of waste, and water needs to be recaptured and reused.
On a somewhat random note, been listening to a program on NPR about the Colorado River delta, which runs dry close to the Mexican border – and Mexico has claim to some of that water. Been that way for years. Lots used up in Vegas and LA, where it is heinously wasted.
That is depressing. Makes me realize how fortunate we are to have so much water at our disposal. Still, I try to use as little as possible. I will try harder. Thanks.