LIME AS A DAIRY RATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 3512, 5 July 1921, Page 8

LIME AS A DAIRY RATION.

• In discussing the question, “Why lime is a dairy ration/’ W. Hi Lytle, Oregon State veterinarian, explains that- he features the word “lime,” in this connection, in preference to the words “mineral matter,’ owing to the fact that, of the nine mineral elements required in life processes, calcium, or lime is the one most frequently lacking. The need of the dairy cow for lime in comparatively large amounts is logical, the writer shows, owing to the fact that she is an unparalleled producer of mineral nutriment for the human family. In 1001 b of milk, she gives seven to ninetenths pounds of mineral. In order to produce this amount the drain on her system must be so supplied that onetwentieth of her weight will be constantly maintained as mineral matter. Obviously her mineral food requirements are, therefore, in proportionate to her eliminative dcitrands. If she does not receive the required mineral, the cow does not produce the normal mineral percentage in her milk —just as certain soils will not give up their plant food nutrients unless lime has been applied to them in adequate amounts. Then again, lime is necessary to counteract acidity in the feed. In respect to ensilage, Dr Lytle says “the use of silage tends to cause a marked loss ot mineral in cattle. This is particularly true when these animals are fed and so closely housed throught the year as to prevent access to outside pasture. The acid content of the silage requires a considerable lime content or akline content to neutralise it, and prevent the digestive system and the whole animal body from suffering too much acid.” The mineral reserve of animals can best be built up and maintained by growing them largely on leguminous herbage, or on forage apd pasture containing an abundance of legumes, which contain a high mineral content of all these elements. Yet howfew farmers comparatively speaking make a practice of growing some legume or other in their ordinarv farm rotations. Sun-' shine and muscular activity increase the affinity of bones and tissues for these mineral salts. If animals cannot be fed a sufficient amount of leguminous roughage, particularly cattle during advanced pregnancy and during heavy lactation, and it there are reasons to believe that a sufficient amount of mineral food is lacking, then bone flour or crude calcium phosphate should be supplied. The presence of lime, Dr Lytle finds, is instrumental in combating disease. In the case of tuberculosis, is would seem that mineral amendment in the diet might assist substantially in solving some of the problems <sf the arrest and control of this malady. Here is a significant statement : —“The spread of tuberculosis is confined largely to animals that are undergoing demineralisation, such as milk cows being heavily drained of many of the mineral salts through the solids secreted in their milk, and in beef cattle being fed a highly carbohydrate ration deficient in mineral elements. It is a noticeable fact that the calf fed on milk in which is to he had all of these mineral salts resists tuberculosis generally until after his milk ration ceases, or until it is largely supplemented with other forms of food. A case is cited where a herd ot 40 cow-s fed and grazed on level gravelly ground for a number of years, developed a stubborn form of abortion. All manner of treatment was tried, but the difficulty seem not to be of bacterial origin. Finally the owner secured a new grazing area, and placed the animals on a well-balanced ration, supplemented with roughage, and almost immediately the animals took a turn for the better and the abortion trouble ceased. It is a common occurrence, the writer says in connection with a discussion of breeding problems, to find instances where a whole herd will fail to breed over a limited time without evidence of abortion being present. I have made some little investigations of this situation, and have always found the good calf country is always a heavily alkalined district. Invariably the cattlemen will tell you if you want to get into the breeding stock game you must get to range with plenty of alkali upon it.” It has also been found that animals which than Nature’s protest against mineral defore calving seem to resist milk fever to a considerable extent. Indeed, it is possible to cure' milk fever by the proper use of a solution of essential minerals without resort to udder inflation. The so-called weak calf trouble that is not. uncommon in certain States during the spring months is doubtless nothing more than nature’s protest against mineral deficient ration. This article suggests the importance that much more, • attention should be given to the lime content of the

animal, as well as the plant ration, while the consideration of devising means of getting this much-needed mineral element to the aninfal in suitable form should be ever in the minds of graziers, fatteners, and dairymen.