COBALT DEFICIENCY 



in 



New Hampshire Cattle, Sheep, and Goats 



H. A. Keener, G. P. Percival, and K. S. Morrow* 



Introduction 



Cobalt deficiency appears to have affected New Hampshire livestock for 

 over 125 years, but it was not recognized as such until 1944. Early in 

 that year Mr. Ralph Littlefield. then County Agricultural Agent in Carroll 

 County. New Hampshire, asked the staff of the Department of Dairy Hus- 

 bandry of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station to find the 

 cause of what appeared to be a nutritional deficiency which was affecting 

 the cattle of his county. 



The symptoms of the deficiency were found to be the same as had been 

 reported for cobalt deficiency. This deficiency had been identified a few 

 years previously in New Zealand and Australia, and in Florida and Michigan 

 in this country. A small amount of cobalt solution and instructions for feed- 

 ing it were left with owners of affected animals. When these farms were 

 visited a few weeks later, the affected animals were found to have made 

 marked improvement within a few days after the treatment started. 



The symptoms observed in the deficient cattle were one or more of the 

 following: a very poor appetite, gnawing of wood or eating sticks, weeds, or 

 other things not normally eaten, constipation, rough hair coat, scaliness of 

 skin, loss of hair in patches, gauntness, unsteady gait, decreased milk flow, 

 retarded growth, and sometimes death. Similar cases soon were found in 

 other parts of New Hampshire and the feeding of cobalt was likewise effective. 



Historical 



The condition identified as cobalt deficiency was found to have a very fas- 

 cinating history in Carroll County. One of the best known legends is quoted 

 from New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station Circular 68: 



"The disease, is called "Burton-ail" by the dairymen of that region be- 

 cause it was first observed in the township of Burton, know now as Albany. 

 According to legends, it was in Burton that Chocorua, a prophet among the 

 Indians of that section, lived. His son, a child of nine or ten years, often 

 visited at the home of Cornelius Campbell, one of a band of hardy pioneers 

 who inhabited Burton. One day the young Indian boy, out of his insatiable 

 curiosity about the strange things he found at the home of his white friends, 

 drank some fox poison. He returned home to his father, sickened, and died. 

 Chocorua, believing that his son had been intentionally poisoned, cruelly 



*Dr. Keener and Mr. Morrow are Dairy Husbandmen and Mr. Percival is Associ- 

 ate Chemist in the Agricultural Experiment Station. 



