FULLY-BALANCED DIETS

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4724, 10 January 1946, Page 4

FULLY-BALANCED DIETS

REDUCTION IN ABORTION Abortion in mares in 13 studs in Russia has been proved to bo due, in the majority of cases, to defective diet, with infection playing only a secondary role. An analysis of seasonal fluctuations showed that in 45.4 per cent, of mares abortion occurred in the autumn and in 19 per cent, in the spring. The animals were stabfed at those periods, and had inadequate diets in the autumn because of a toor*pid change from grazing to stable feeding on recently-harvested and still immature dry fodders; and in the spring owing to a decrease in the nutritive value of dry fodders. The abortion usually began as a non-infec-tious outbreak, which later became infectious because of the low resistance of stabled animals. The incidence of all kinds of abortion was reduced to an insignificant level through the feeding of supplements of yellow maize and sprouted wheat, rye, barley and oats. The best results were obtained by providing a supplementary ration of bonemcal plus sprouted grain, or sprouted grain alone, and by exercising the animals for three or four hours daily. If such a supplement was included in the ordinary diet of pregnant mares, gestation ran a normal course, pa'rturition was normal, strong viable foals were produced, and mares came in heat quickly after foaling. A diet of sprouted wheat restored fertility in marcs which became barren as a result of vitamin E deficiency.