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If you subscribe to Countryside and Small Stock Journal, be sure to read the letter on page 14-15, "Lack of minerals may be our downfall". The gist of the letter is mineral deficiences are the cause of many of the illnesses in both man and livestock.
Some examples During WW-II the rejection rate for Southern draftees was much higher than those from the North. This was attributed to a general lack of calcium in their diet. The area which roughly includes the states along the western U.S./Canadian border and around the Great Lakes were known as "The Goiter Belt", due to a lack of iodine in the soil. This is the primary reason iodine is added to table salt. Some Gulf Coast states have soils deficient in selenium. In New Zealand rock salt is spread on pastures. Animals eating dirt or unusual things is usually a sign of a raging mineral deficiency.
Some years ago I told Jd (former editor of CS&SSJ) of a story I had heard where deer in England were observed catching and eating rabbits. He challanged me to prove it and I did find a reference in his extensive library of deer being observed catching and eating fish. On the England story, I believed then, and still do, the deer were seeking calcium. It is not beyond reason they started by eating rabbit skeletons and then associated the skeletons with the live rabbits. It only takes one to start a pattern.
Trace minerals can be provided to livestock in block salt or added to mixed feed*. For humans there are one-a-day vitamin and mineral tablets. As I noted in another post, if a bottle calf isn't doing well, consider adding a crushed up child's multi-vitamin and mineral tablet to the milk replacer.
*That's one of the reasons I have square baled hay finely chopped and mixed with ground/chrushed corn, dried molasses, salt and pasture minerals for my weaned calves.
When you have soil tests done on your fields, pastures or garden, pay the extra to have the trace mineral analysis done also. Almost all soil in the U.S. now needs supplemental calcium (crushed limestone) and may need more than just NPK also.
Ken S. in WC TN
Some examples During WW-II the rejection rate for Southern draftees was much higher than those from the North. This was attributed to a general lack of calcium in their diet. The area which roughly includes the states along the western U.S./Canadian border and around the Great Lakes were known as "The Goiter Belt", due to a lack of iodine in the soil. This is the primary reason iodine is added to table salt. Some Gulf Coast states have soils deficient in selenium. In New Zealand rock salt is spread on pastures. Animals eating dirt or unusual things is usually a sign of a raging mineral deficiency.
Some years ago I told Jd (former editor of CS&SSJ) of a story I had heard where deer in England were observed catching and eating rabbits. He challanged me to prove it and I did find a reference in his extensive library of deer being observed catching and eating fish. On the England story, I believed then, and still do, the deer were seeking calcium. It is not beyond reason they started by eating rabbit skeletons and then associated the skeletons with the live rabbits. It only takes one to start a pattern.
Trace minerals can be provided to livestock in block salt or added to mixed feed*. For humans there are one-a-day vitamin and mineral tablets. As I noted in another post, if a bottle calf isn't doing well, consider adding a crushed up child's multi-vitamin and mineral tablet to the milk replacer.
*That's one of the reasons I have square baled hay finely chopped and mixed with ground/chrushed corn, dried molasses, salt and pasture minerals for my weaned calves.
When you have soil tests done on your fields, pastures or garden, pay the extra to have the trace mineral analysis done also. Almost all soil in the U.S. now needs supplemental calcium (crushed limestone) and may need more than just NPK also.
Ken S. in WC TN