Estancia news-herald. [volume] (Estancia, Torrance County, N.M.) 1912-19??, 1919-07-03
MINERAL REQUIREMENTS
OF LIVESTOCK


The ash or mineral matte,
of feeding stuffs is of grea
Importance since it is found il
all the vital parts of the ami
, NAL body, particularly in thu
, muscles, blood, skeleton, di
, gestive fluids and milk. Younf
animals must be well supplied
with it in order to make prop
err growth and development
Should they fail to receive &
sufficient supply of minera
matter they will in time show
a marked weakness of body
and limbs and may finally die
u A large amount of calcium is
deposited in the bones of ami.
mails chiefly as phosphates but
also to some extent as carbon.
ates. In feeding all classes OF
animals, the calcium and phos.
phorus content of the feeds
used must be considered. Pro-
perly balanced rations are not
ordinarily deficient in mineral
matter excepting salt which
must be supplied and some
times pigs need access to a
mineral mixture. Feeds low
in mineral matter are common
lily fed in connection with 9TH
ers which make up the defi-
Cheney, but pigs because of a
usually restricted diet often
suffer from an insufficient sup
lply of calcium and phosphate
more than other young stock,
especially when fed on corn,
or the milo class of grains
alone. These should be fed in
combination with feeds like
tankage, milk and alfalfa.
Calves, colts and lambs usually
receive enough of mineral mat
ter in the pasture grass or the
hay and grain that they are
fed. When a ration must be
used that is deficient in cal
cium or phosphorus these min
erals may be supplied in the
form of calcium carbonate in
wood ashes or ground lime
stone, or phosphorus in the
form of bone meal or ground
rock phosphate. The latter is
considered by far the cheapest
form of phosphate available
for this purpose.
The hunger of animals for
common salt is we'll known.
Besides serving to excite the
appetite and increase the pal
atability of foods, it stimulates
their digestion, hastens circu-
lation and thus prevents diges-
tive disturbances. Animals al
lowed free access to salt will
consume only enough to meet
the needs of the body. Salt
requirements may differ great
ly in different localities, de-
pending on the quantity in the
soil, or in the water with
which the stock is supplied.
Cows in milk and sheep show
the greatest need of salt, and
are more readily affected by
it's absence than other classes
of livestock, such as, fattening
cattle, dry COWS and horses. In
this southwestern country with
| the abundance of alfalfa
and other legumenous crops it
is seldom necessary to resort to
any other source to secure the
mineral matter necessary for
the proper growth or health of
any kind of stock. The differ
ent kinds of straw, the various
root crops and the cereals with
their by-products such as bran
and midlings are low in cal
cium, while the legumes such
as clover and alfalfa and the
legumenous seeds such as
peas and beans are very high.
Straw, beet pulp and molasses
are low in phosphorus, while
the cereals, wheat, bran, cot
tonseed meal and tankage car
ry it in abundance. A proper
combination of such concen-
trates and roughages as men
toned above will furnish
abundant bone and muscle
building material. When ra-
tions are properly balanced by
the legume feeds, corn, barley,
kafir and milo may be fed
without the necessity OF add
ling mineral matter. How
ever, if it seems desirable to
feed substances especially rich
in phosphorus and lime, they
may be readily secured in a
very concentrated form in
tankage, ground bone and
rock phosphate from the fer
tilizer companies and packing
houses.-State College Bulle.
tin.