56 



FEEDS AND FEEDING, ABRIDGED 



certain localities where the haj^ and other roughages are unusually 

 low in calcium and phosphorus, due to the poverty of the soil in these 

 elements, the bones of farm animals may become so brittle that they 

 break with surprising ease. Growing animals, whose bones are 

 rapidly increasing in size, suffer from a lack of these mineral elements 

 sooner than mature animals. Because they are fed chiefly on the 

 cereal grains, which are low in calcium, pigs fail to receive enough 

 calcium more often than do calves, colts and lambs, which eat hay 

 and other roughage as well. Of grown animals, those carrying their 

 young or producing a heavy yield of milk are most apt to suffer froirj 

 a lack of calcium or phosphorus. 



Fig. 15. — Farm Animals Need an Ample Supply of Mineral 

 jMatter 



Over 90 per ct. of the mineral matter in tlie skeleton consists of calcium and 

 phosphorus. In certain rations tlie amount of these mineral elements may be in- 

 sufficient for health. ( From Ellenberger. ) 



Fortunately, roughage from the legumes, such as clover, alfalfa, 

 and cowpea hay, is rich in phosphorus and especially in calcium. 

 Thus animals fed legume hay commonly receive plenty of these 

 mineral elements. Straw, chaff, the various root crops, molasses, and 

 the cereals and their by-products, such as bran or middlings, are 

 generally low in calcium. Beet pulp, potatoes, molasses, straw, and 

 chaff are low in phosphorus, while the cereals and brans, oil cakes, 

 and slaughter-house and fish waste carry it in abundance. When 

 there is danger of a deficiency of either calcium or phosphorus, it is 



