Water restriction or inadequate water provision is one of the most common welfare failures on livestock farms, causing dehydration, reduced production and significant suffering.
Water restriction in livestock causes acute and genuine suffering. Thirst is a distressing physiological state that motivates increasingly desperate water-seeking behaviour. Dairy cows restricted from water for even a few hours show measurable reductions in milk yield and increased stress indicators. The use of pre-slaughter water restriction in poultry to improve catching compliance is a practice with no welfare justification — it deliberately causes thirst to overcome the natural flight response of birds about to be transported to slaughter. Clean, accessible, adequate water provision is perhaps the simplest welfare requirement to audit and one of the most common to fail.