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Cobalt deficiency article, pt. one- interesting stuff!
Acknowledgements sited throughout the article-
> Cobalt Deficiency In Goats
>
>
>
> Goats use cobalt to synthesise Vitamin B12. This vitamin
> is needed to allow the haemoglobin in the red blood cells to take up iron. A
> shortage of Vitamin B12 causes anaemia.
>
> If the goat has a high level of internal parasites, they will
> steal the Vitamin B12 after it is synthesised in the gut and before it is
> absorbed by the goat’s tissues.
>
> Legumes prevent the synthesis of Vitamin B12. Low-fibre diets
> discourage the proliferation of the bacteria which manufacture Vitamin B12.
>
> Some soils are totally lacking in cobalt, some are marginal,
> some have plenty of cobalt but the lime content of the soil blocks the
> cobalt from being taken up by the plants. Most of New Zealand comes into
> one or other of these groups.
>
> Cobalt deficiency is found world-wide, which is reflected in
> the number of names severe life-threatening cobalt deficiency is known by.
> e.g. pine, bush sickness, vanquish, Nakuruitis, Coast disease, and Salt
> sickness.
>
> Severely affected animals fail to thrive, become emaciated
> and anaemic and will eventually collapse and die of starvation because the
> food they are eating cannot be processed by their diminishing bacterial
> flora or absorbed by a bloodless gut. Breeding problems occur as the
> females cannot hold to service. White liver disease has been recorded in
> goats in New Zealand.
>
> Of the domestic ruminants, sheep need twice as much cobalt as cattle, and
> goats require 4 to 6 times as much cobalt as sheep.
>
> Because a goat eats twice as much as a sheep, its diet need
> only contain twice to three times as much cobalt as the sheep needs.
>
> Feral goats will seek out plants (usually considered noxious
> weeds) which concentrate cobalt.
>
> Farmed goats are unlikely to suffer life-threatening cobalt
> deficiency because they are supplied with mineralised salt blocks, but
> cobalt levels can still be so low that they severely depress production.
>
> A multi-mineral lick is formulated according to the
> proportions needed for optimum health. But if you give a balanced mineral
> supplement to goats whose forage is minerally *un*-balanced, the goats are
> still minerally unbalanced. There is *never* enough cobalt for goats in
> the licks.
>
> It is necessary to give them the missing minerals without giving them more
> of those their diet already contains, if you want to get them in balance.
> Symptoms of cobalt deficiency
>
> The most obvious sign of cobalt deficiency in goats which look
> healthy is the smell, like nail-varnish remover but sweeter, or over-ripe
> pears. Acetonaemia (Ketosis) may be triggered by cobalt deficiency. Goats
> with marginal cobalt deficiency may smell like this only in the breeding
> season or when pregnant.
>
> Sharp-tasting milk, very low butterfats, and sometimes
> sub-clinical mastitis are indications of cobalt deficiency.
>
> Seriously affected goats lose weight, with harsh coats. Smooth
> hair becomes curly, and the winter coat is not shed until late summer
> (instead of spring). The new coat may be sparse and slow-growing (in
> drought because there is no Vitamin A in the herbage this is accentuated),
> and will become curly in a few weeks. Unlike copper deficiency the coat
> doesn’t usually fade.
>
> As the goat’s ability to digest its food efficiently becomes
> impaired it looks hunched.
>
> * *
>
> The goat in this picture (summer 1981-82)( the picture didn't come through)Â had
ad-lib access to
> a mineral mix formulated for the property, including extra iodine, copper
> and cobalt. Because of severe drought, cobalt in the soil was
> un-available to the plants. The slight green in the background is the
> remains of half an acre of thistles and other stubborn weeds which had been
> sown deliberately from seed screenings to provide goat fodder during
> summer. Even so, she exhibits visible signs of cobalt deficiency.
>
> * *
> How can I tell if my goats have cobalt deficiency?
>
>
>
> To challenge a goat with suspected cobalt deficiency give her
> 1 teaspoon daily of Marmite, Vegemite, or 1 tablespoon yeast. These
> contain Vitamin B12. In a day or two, the milk flavour will improve and
> the odour of acetones from her skin will diminish.
>
> If she has a high worm burden, improvement will be slower.
>
> Don’t do this for more than a week because the high phosphorus
> level in yeast products causes calcium-phosphorus imbalance.
> How do I treat cobalt deficiency?
>
>
>
> You can administer cobalt boluses three-monthly. These are
> slow-release and stay in the rumen.
>
> Alternatively, you can by-pass the cobalt altogether and give
> 3-weekly injections of Vitamin B12. [This is wasting the goat’s ability
> to do-it-herself.] Or you can put the goat on a maintenance ration of 1
> teaspoon yeast daily. Again, it’s better to provide the cobalt so the
> goat can make her own B12. You can use ordinary baking yeast, brewers’
> yeast, Diamond V stockfood yeast, or compressed yeast. This option is
> often used where cobalt is unprocurable.
>
> If you prefer less expensive options, you can try one of the
> following:
>
> 1. Make up a 1% solution of cobalt sulphate. [1 tablespoon cobalt
> sulphate to 3 litres of water.] Drench each adult goat (1 year up) with
> 20 mls twice daily. Suckling kids should not need it as they will get the
> extra Vitamin B12 in the milk. Weaned kids should get 10 mls twice daily.
> This is labour-intensive, but where the animals have been deficient to the
> point of severe anaemia it is better to administer low frequent doses to
> allow the rumen flora to adjust gradually to the increased cobalt.
>
> 2. Make up a solution of 8.3% cobalt sulphate. [1 teaspoon cobalt
> sulphate to 600 mls water.] The drench for each adult goat is 5 mls per
> fortnight. This recipe was used successfully in a commercial milking herd
> in Canterbury.
>
> 3. Dissolve 4 teaspoons of cobalt sulphate in 120 mls of water. To
> each 10 litres of drinking water, add 2 mls of cobalt sulphate concentrate.
> This method won’t do if your water troughs work on the ballcock system.
>
> I have tried the cobaltised salt recipe in David Mackenzie’s Goat
> Husbandry but found the soft New Zealand salt was not satisfactory; the
> mixture stayed damp and the goats disliked it.
>
> *These recipes will not poison the animals. *
>
> * *
>
> While experimenting, I gave some severely deficient animals half a
> teaspoonful of cobalt sulphate (dissolved in a little water) and only one
> was slightly unwell for a day or two. Another breeder used a whole
> teaspoonful, which made her goats seedy for a week but they had no long term
> ill-effects.
>
> Because unused cobalt is excreted by the goat’s body, it needs a regular
> ‘fix’ which is partly provided by food and mineralised salt, and topped up
> by the extra dosing method you use.
>
>
>
> If you are using cobalt carbonate instead of cobalt sulphate, you need
> to know that
>
> Cobalt carbonate is 50% cobalt.
>
> Cobalt sulphate is 38% cobalt.
>
> Therefore you may need to adjust the strength of the solution you use, or
> the dose, but I doubt this is necessary because both the solution and dose
> are well below toxicity level.
>
>
>
>
> Some goats with depressed appetites were slow to improve when the cobalt
> treatment started. Giving the affected goats a teaspoonful of yeast or
> yoghurt (or both) revved the rumen flora into action more quickly.
>
>
> Goats on a high-legume diet (and this includes a number of ‘noxious’ weeds,
> so people with land clearance herds take note) require extra cobalt because
> the calcium content of the feed blocks the uptake of cobalt.
>
> Similarly, limed soil blocks the uptake of cobalt, rendering
> the fodder grown on it deficient.
>
> Soil can be treated with cobalt but this releases molybdenum
> which blocks the uptake of copper. With goats’ requirements of cobalt it
> is probably simpler to boost the goats than treat the soil.
>
>
>
>
> - Irene Ramsay. 14.8.99. Updated 30.4.2007
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