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Introduction. Regular access to drinking water for cattle is essential for optimum production. �Basic information about how much water cattle consume and how often they drink under varying conditions of climate, pasture and water availability in extensive grazing systems is not well documented. This research aimed to develop a practical and inexpensive method to record grazing beef cattle drinking activities to understand how they use water points and develop guidelines for adequate water point distribution. Drinking frequency effects on cattle performance. In the first phase, a systematic review methodology was used to analyse the literature for drinking frequency effects on cattle performance. Under controlled experiment conditions, beef cattle with access to water once daily were reported to drink 15-25% more than cattle with access to water once every second or third day and had 9-16% higher feed intakes (Williams et al. 2016). Investigation of cattle drinking activities using remote weighing technology. The second phase used Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) reader data from remote weighing technology to investigate the timing and frequency of cattle visits to water points at three sites in northern Australia. Most cattle visits to water occurred during daylight hours. Cattle visit frequency ranged from 0.6 to 2 visits per day between grazing sites and was influenced by month of the year, time of day and maximum temperature. Differences in cattle visit frequency between sites reflected paddock size and permanent water availability. Quantification of drinking behaviour using accelerometers and RFID. In the third phase a combination of technologies was used to record grazing cattle drinking behaviour. RFID recorded when cattle entered an enclosed water point. Collar mounted accelerometers identified drinking head-neck posture and movement (Williams et al. 2017). A water flow meter measured intake. Preliminary analysis suggests that individual drinking behaviour was successfully quantified. References: Williams, L., Jackson, E., Bishop?Hurley, G., Swain, D. (2016) Drinking frequency effects on the performance of cattle: a systematic review. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition, doi:10.1111/jpn.12640. Williams, L., Fox, D., Bishop?Hurley, G., Swain, D. (in press) A pilot study to record drinking behaviour of beef cattle using accelerometers. Animal Production Science.*Corresponding author� l.r.williams@cqu.edu.au