Salt Is Essential

Northern Advocate, 27 March 1937, Page 10

Salt Is Essential

(By C. E. Cuming.)

In the early years of this century there arose a lively controversy among live stock authorities as to the real value of salt in animal diet. While all the disputants were agreed that salt should be included in their diet, mainly because cows, sheep and horses showed a strong liking for it, there was no agreement as to its actual nutrient value. One group contended that salt was purely and simply a seasoning which added flavour but little else to animal rations, while the second group held that salt fulfilled an unknown but necessary purpose in animal nourishment and therefore was essential. Conclusive evidence either way was lacking. On the one hand a few recorded experiments showed that when dairy cattle had been deprived of salt for short periods there was not apparent effect either on health or milk flow. In an American experiment 20 cows were divided into two groups of ten each. The two groups received exactly the same diet, with this difference, that one group received all the salt they desired, while the second group received no salt. For a month or .two, both groups throve. Then, unmistakably, the health of the no-salt group began to decline. Their eyes lost lustre, their coats became rough and shaggy, their appetites failed. They lost rapidly in weight and milk production practically ceased. Finally, at or shortly after calving time, came complete collapse. Every animal in the no-salt group passe dthrough these stages in less than a year, and in very case these animals quickly recovered their health when salt was returned fo their diet. Salt has been found to be a necessary food ingredient for all live stock, comments an American journal. Salt was not poisonous to pigs but, on the contrary, was particularly beneficial to them. Pountry required salt, but their need was not so great as that of other farm animals. The proportion of salt in feed which was good for cattle or horses could prove fatal to poultry; nevertheless, they could not do without a certain amount of it.