COBALT DEFICIENCY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23273, 16 February 1939, Page 18

COBALT DEFICIENCY

EXPERIMENTS AT WAIROA RELATION TO ANAEMIA IN STOCK [BV TEI.EGRAI'H OWN CORRESPONDENT] WAIROA, Wednesday Arrangements for the carrying out of investigations into cobalt-deficient areas in the Waikaremoana district have been completed by the Department of Agriculture, and a start is to be made with the work at once, Mr. A. D. M. G. Laing, Government veterinarian for Hawko's Bay having arrived at Wairoa from Hastings in connection with the experiments. Two plots of land each 10 acres in extent on Mr. D. V. Thomas' property at Waikaremoana have been selected, and the first step will be to top-dress them with cobaltised superphosphate. Sixty sheep will then be put on these areas and they will be left there for 12 months, being weighed at monthly intervals, the reason for this being that cobalt-deficient land shows itself in the anaemic condition of sheep.

In connection with the work in the Waikaremoana area Dr. J. E. Filmer, of the Wallaceville Laboratory, and Mr. R. 10. R. Grimmett, chief chemist to the department, visited the district recently to make the necessary arrangements to carry out the experiments. It is thought that the experiments should be of importance to the Wairoa district as a whole, as other ports also may be suffering from cobalt deficiency.