]5S 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICUliTURE 



April. 1921. 



to one inixtiire of steamed bone and salt per head in 

 10 days. Heifers weighing 700 lbs. will eat two pounds 

 of the same mixture in two weeks. Cows in milk eon- 

 fined to barns, giving 28 lbs. milk per day have eaten 

 three and three-fourths pounds of the mixture in- five 

 days. 



Dairy Cows. 



For iiraetical pur|ioses cows should receive one to 

 two ounces of salt per heail daily. From tlie practical 

 view point rations which contain no leguminous rough- 

 age are apt to be definitely lacking in mineral nutri- 

 ment. The minerals of the skeleton appear to be more 

 readily available for use in milk secretion than those 

 absorbed from the ration. 



The practical results of ash metabolism exiieriments 

 with dairy cows seem to suggest that the farm land 

 should be kept in a high state of fertility. 



The soils should grow legumes, or be brought to do 

 so by the use of commercial fertilizers containing cal- 

 cium and phosphorus. 



The mineral reserve of cattle should be built up b.y 

 growing young cattle largely on leguminous roughages 

 or on pasture containing an abundance of legumes. 



The cow should receive some leguminous roughage 

 during milk prodiietion. All dry cows should receive 

 feeds rich in minerals — so that they ma.y have a chance 

 to restore their depleted mineral stores. The use of 

 large ]iroportion of roughage in the ration is both 

 practical and profitable. 



Mineral Supplements for Hogs. 



The hog suffers from lack of minerals in ration more 

 than any other class of livestock. It has been demon- 

 strated that hogs which receive sufficient amounts of 

 milk, tankage, or leguminous I'oughage commonly pos- 

 sess fairl.v strong bone. This is due to tlie, fact that 

 feeds high in protein are generally high in ash. How- 

 ever, heavy individuals, especially females confined to 

 rations of smaller grains while suckling pigs, frequent- 

 ly suffer through fracture of bones and from strain of 

 tendon attachments. Secretion of milk calls for more 

 calcium and phosphorus than the small grains contain. 



Pigs on rations of low mineral content develop rick- 

 ety symptoms, lameness, and paralysis, during rapid 

 growth. The skeleton of the pig seems to be respon- 

 sive to the character of the ration. Salts including cal- 

 cium and phosphorus have been mixed with numerous 

 substances to induce pigs to eat them from self-feeders. 

 Of these condimental substances used with minerals 

 are salt, hummus, molasses, tankage, ground apples, 

 charcoal, ginger, anise, fenugreek, fennel, caraway and 

 coriander. 



Salt, hununus, cliai-cual and ground alfalfa do not adtl 

 much palatability to hog feed. Molasses has a greater 

 value tor flavoring purposes than any substance except 

 tankage in the above list. 



The amount of mineral supplements that hogs eat 

 from self-feeders varies in accordance with the severity 

 of confinement. Hogs on pasture have little need for 

 mineral supplements. Supplements are needed in win- 

 ter when cold weather and frozen ground discourage 

 foraging. 



The Ohio Station tested the j).alatability of mineral 

 supplements for hogs. Eight lots of five hogs each 

 were used, the pigs being confined in pens paved with 

 brick. They were late spring pigs, weighing 46 lbs. at 

 the beginning and 161 lbs. at the end of 15 weeks, mak- 

 ing an average daily gain of 11 lbs. The ration was 

 made up of corn, linseed oil meal and wheat middlings, 

 (proportion SoO-.'iO-oO by weight.) 



All mineral supplements were mixed with 3 per cent 

 salt. The total consumiJtion of mineral supplements 

 by lots of five pigs during the 15 weeks was bone meal 

 7-9 lbs., rock phosphate! 14 lbs., precijjitated calcium 

 carbonate 15-7 lbs., whiting 16-2 lbs., pulverized lime- 

 stone 23-2 lbs.', precipitated bone 25-3 lbs., and special 

 steamed bone 47-8 lbs. The list runs in the degree of 

 palatability of the mineral supplements. Each dail.y 

 ration contained at least five grams of calcium per day. 



The most efficient supplements were those more 

 readil.v soluble. 



Salt is generally provided by adding one-fourth 

 pound of salt to each 100 pound sack of feed. The other 

 mineral requirements may be met by allowing free ac- 

 cess to a mixture of equal parts of calcium carbonate 

 anil calcium phospliate mixed with 3 per cent salt, ad- 

 ded. The mineral suppUunent may also be mixed with 

 the grain ration in the projjortion of one-lialf to three- 

 fourtlis lbs. to 100 lbs. grain. Range cattle consumed 

 about 7 lbs. of salt from March to September. 



Sows are sometimes supplied with a mixture of char- 

 coal, 12 parts, rock phosphate or lime, 3 parts, salt, 1 

 part. Feeding of wood ashes, corn cob ashes and char- 

 coal is of decided benefit. Feeding of coal ashes has 

 nothing to recommend it. 



Clover and alfalfa hay and pasture grass are useful 

 sources of mineral nutriment for hogs. 



Milk and high tankage rations permit the storage of 

 much larger amounts of calcium than do any of the 

 straight grain rations. 



Mineral Content of Animals. 



Below is a table giving per cent of ash in carcasses 

 of cattle, sheep and hogs. 



Cattle, 3-92 p.c. to 4-66 p.c. 

 Sheep, 2-81 p.c. to 3-17 p.c. 

 Hogs, 1-65 p.c. to 2-67 p.c. 



Calcium and phosphorus oxides comprise 4-5 of the 

 total weight. Fresh bones are 22 per cent minerals. 

 About one-half to one-third of calcium and phosphorus 

 of vegetable food stuffs is utilized by animals. So in 

 computing rations it is necessary to allow for at least 

 two or three times as much of these eli'inents as the 

 animals require in the vital processes. 



Mineral Content of Plants. 



Leaves of plants are generally rich in ash because 

 mineral substances carried to leaves by saji are left 

 there as moisture evaporates. Seeds and roots are com- 

 paratively poor in ash because of storage in them of 

 mineral free carbohydrates, fats and proteins of low 

 mineral content. 



Corn and cereal grains are low in calcium. 



Potassium is the principal mineral element in the 

 grass plants and roughage of small grains and corn. 

 Leguminous roughage is characterized by very high 

 calcium content. In cereal grains the phosphorus is 

 higher than in roughage of the same species. In mil- 

 ling by-jiroducts which contain the outer .seed-coats 

 pota.ssium and phosjiliorus are both mnch higher than 

 in whole grain. 



Winter wheat contains four times as much ash as 

 does patent flour, and wheat bran 12 times as much. 



The various preparations of bone and chalk contain 

 more calcium than anything used as food. Some brands 

 of tankage are high in calcium because of the high bone 

 content. 



Phosphorus in feeding stuffs is found abundantly in 

 bone preparations, tankage, wheat, grain, cottonseed 

 meal, wheat middlings, I'icc polish, soy beans, and lin- 

 seed oil meal. 



