STOCK ON MANGOLDS.

Waipa Post, Volume I, Issue 48, 29 September 1911, Page 4

STOCK ON MANGOLDS.

RECENT MORTALITY. In the Agricultural Department’s Journal, Mr B. C. Aston deals with the matter of the recently-reported mortality of stock on mangolds in the following strain : “ Following on other deaths occurring among cattle and pigs feeding'on mangolds, some eight animals died on a farm in the Wanganui district. I visited the district on August II and saw the owner of the cattle in question. He appeared to be quite satisfied that the mangolds were the cause of the mortality. He had lost eight cows altogether, and a neighbour had lost one. The mangolds were manured with iVz cwt. bone, blood and superphosphate per acre, and I cwt salt. He started to feed the cows on mangolds at the end of May. For the first six weeks nothing happened; then some weeks ago they started to die. On making post-mortem Mr Edgar, M.R.C.V.S., found nothing abnormal, and attributes death to a toxin. There were more deaths among cows to which the mangolds had been carted than among those which fed on the field on which the crop was grown. No salt lick was given the cows, or has ever been used by the owner as a stock-lick. There has been other mortality of a similar nature in Taranaki. I examined some of the mangolds but could not see any trace of a fungus. The roots appeared to be quite healthy. After the stock had been on for six weeks the droppings were stated to be like muddy, salty water. The owner is sending to this laboratory some soil and a cartload of mangolds. Until the roots are analysed little further can be said.

It is generally known that mangolds may cause scouring in stock, and largely for this reason it is usual in Europe to store or pit the roots for some months, after which they exercise no injurious effects. It is not definitely known to what compound in the mangold are due these deleterious effects, and one is unable to find any record of mortality of stock fed on the roots in other countries. ) Warrington (Watts’ Die. of Chem., 2nd Supp., p. 1051), however, states that cattle are occasionally poisoned by eating the leaves of mangolds,, and quotes authorities to show that these leaves may contain of their dry matter as much as 11 percent, of oxalic acid —a violent poison. Worley Axe, in his book on the horse, states that pitting the mangolds with the leaves on causes the formation of oxalic acid. Muir (“ Agricultural, Practical and Scientific”) advises cutting or twisting off the tops before storing. Storer (“ Agriculture,” Vol. 3, p. 406) states that when grown on fertile soils in France the leaves of sugar-beet become so highly charged with nitrates that they are unfit for food for animals. It is said that serious results have occurred repeatedly on using such leaves as fodder (Deherain). These leaves when made into ensilage are apparently without ill-effects. On the other hand, Stephen (“Book of the Farm,” Vol. I, p. 265) states that the leaves of the mangold are useful especially for milch-cows, but have a scouring tendency.

“T. B. Wood (Journ. Roy. Ag. Soc., England, 1888, p. 355, and “ Nature,” Aug., -897), in two researches, showed that the percentages of nitrates in the mangold decreased on storing for two months from one-third to one-half of the original quantity present. Nitrates have no feeding value, and are liable to cause derangements in digestion. By storage the nitrates are converted into amides, which have some feeding value, and are quite harmless. Storage also increases the percentage of albumenoids and peptones, which are of the highest feeding value. The overlong storage of mangolds, however, is likely to lead to a loss of sugar, which would more than counterbalance a slight increase in value due to the digestible nitrogenous constituents (see Storer, “Agriculture,” Vol. I, p. 137). Potash salts, of which the mangold takes up a large quantity from the soil unless the crop has been manured with or grown on a soil containing salt, may also produce scouring. “J. A. Voelcker (Journ. Roy. Ag. Soc., 1899, p. 561), in experiments undertaken to ascertain the influence of the early feeding of mangolds to fattening bullocks, found that 281 b to 301 b of mangolds sliced twelve hours

before using could be quite safely used in placed of swedes, if with them was given common cottoncake, bean-meal, or a plentiful supply of long hay; but if the quantity of mangolds was raised to 351 b or 40lb scouring appeared, and was not mitigated by the use of hay. Voelcker’s experiments with sheep were not so satisfactory. Harm may be caused to male sheep by feeding mangolds freely. There is a tendency to act on the kidneys, producing increased secretion of urine, and in extreme cases the formation of crystals in the urethra. There was much greater irregularity at first in the way that sheep did on mangolds compared with those on swedes.

“It will be seen that the practice which prevails in New Zealand of turning stock into a field of growing mangolds is open to criticism. The mangold is a plant which varies greatly, in composition, and it is this variation which probably accounts for many diverse statements concerning it.”