10 Jan., 1918.] Instinctice Choice of Food hy Cattle. 55 



IXSTI^^CTIVE CHOICE OF FOOD AND WATER BY 



STOCK. 



By E. W. Murphy, Dairy Supervisor. 



It is remarkable how cattle will seek special substances Avbicli tbeir 

 systems need omng to defects in tlie food supply. Top dress a part of a 

 field where cripples and paralysis are prevalent, and then observe the 

 fondness of the stock for the treated portion. In country where long- 

 continued stocking has caused exhaustion of the soil, bone-chewing by 

 cattle is quite a usual thing. How do the animals know that the bone 

 contains phosphoric acid and lime? They cannot be seeking for fat, as 

 any bone at all is chewed, and bone ashes will be eaten with avidity if 

 placed within their reach, and will produce a very marked improvement 

 in their health. The eating of dead rabbits by cows — so common in 

 some districts — is an undoubted sign of a lack of minerals in the herbage. 



It is surprising to note, in some districts where bores or wells have 

 been put down, that cattle will refuse to drink the water in dams supplied 

 by surface catchment when they have tasted the supply from under 

 ground, l^ear Penshurst there is a farm which has a large, clean dam, 

 which was cut off by the railway line from a portion of the j^addock, 

 and for the waterless part a well was sunk and a hand pump erected. 

 The owner, an ^ged man, desirous of avoiding unnecessary pumping, 

 sometimes drives the cow^s to the dam to induce them to drink from it, 

 but without success, and they will wait for hours for an opportunity to 

 go to the trough for the mineral water, which has markedly improved 

 their condition. On another farm not far away the water supply is 

 from a bore, and the water, though mineralized, evidently does not 

 contain enough lime, as the cows eagerly lick the limewash off the cow- 

 shed. 



Frequently I have been informed of coWs eating rabbit droppings. 

 The explanation of this is that the animals are seeking phosphoric acid 

 — a substance in which the excreta of rabbits is usually rich, as a result 

 of their feeding on the best grass and roots. 



Salt-bushes are known to be very nourishing and wholesome feed, 

 but, unless protected, they are soon eaten out. It is very strange that 

 pastoralists should neglect these valuable plants, which would materially 

 lighten the troubles of dry periods. 



I am acquainted with a dairy farm on a bank of the Wannon where 

 dandelions grow freely. The owner has an outer block upon which cows 

 become weak and crippled, and it has been noticed that when they are 

 brought to the river paddock they show a decided preference for the 

 dandelion, and quickly improve in condition. Apparently the deep- 

 rooting plants have some tonic virtues, and they are believed to act 

 also as a digestive stimulant. In many of the better cow paddocks 

 near Hamilton dandelions grow abundantly, while the areas most 

 troubled with paralysis have very little of this plant. Yet I have 

 recently seen a field in the Coleraine district wdth plenty of dandelion 

 growing on it when all the stock was very badly crippled. This paddock, 



