MOLASSES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19959, 17 November 1934, Page 15

MOLASSES

VALUABLE FOR COWS A recent valuable piece of research work at the Wallaceville Laboratory probably explains the well-known value of molasses in the food of the cow prior to calving. It has been thought that the use of molasses at such a time was due to its good influence on digestion, but the Wallaceville investigation (by I. J. Cunningham) shows that the lime and magnesium in the molasses is very assimilable, and therefore is a most valuable source of these essential minerals, especially as molasses has been shown to contain relatively high proportions of lime and magnesium. Sugar and Milk Fever It will be remembered that in the first successful treatment of cows for milk fever (apart from udder inflation) was the injection of sugar and lime preparations. An American veterinarian cured a case of milk fever by injecting maple syrup, not being able to get any glucose. The general opinion of scientific investigators of milk fever at that time was that lime deficiency was the cause of milk fever and the best results were obtained by injecting into the blood stream calcium gluconate, or lime and sugar. A simpler method has been very effective. This is giving lime as a drench in the form of calcium chloride (2oz. in a quart of water and molasses). Later investigations have shown that magnesium deficiency is also probably a contributing cause, not only of milk fever but of grass stagger, or eclampsia. Thus in giving a cow at her critical time a supply of molasses, sugar, lime and magnesia are provided in the most desirable forms, and the simple treatment is at the hands of the farmer. This also suggests the value of silage being made with molasses, to provide not only a well-balanced food, but the minerals of great importance prior to and during the parturition period. An Old Method In the old days a rather common and most desirable winter ration for dairy cows was hay soaked in molasses water. The molasses mixed with water was put in a trough, trusses of baled hay were soaked in* this for a few minutes. Sheets of corrugated iron were arranged on a slope so that the trusses of hay placed on these could drain, the excess of molasses water running back into the trough. The hay was left over night, sometimes covered with sacks, and when taken out to a field the next morning and opened up it was warm and in an ideal condition for feeding to cows on a cold morning. And sows in milk when fed on this diet were said to yield up to their maximum. Expert Advice In reporting on the result of the Wallaceville experiment, Mr Cunningham says this: “It is suggested that molasses might form a valuable agent in treatment of cases of milk fever and grass staggers.” It was shown in the experiments that all of the lime and magnesium in molasses was soluble in water.