OCR Text |
Show Prevent Bone Disease by Feeding Minerals The mineral substances which go into bone consist largely of compounds com-pounds of lime and phosphorus derived de-rived from the food. In any case tiiy are primarily derived from the soil, writes Dr. L.' Van Es in the Capper's Farmer. Vn some regions the soil is poor in lime and the vegetation it supports may not provide live stock with a sufficient quantity. Or, the mistake may be made of selecting feeds poor in hone building materials. In both eases, animals may come to suffer from bone softening because there always al-ways is an expenditure of the lime-phosphorus lime-phosphorus complex., Evidence tends to show that to utilize bone building materials the animal body must be exposed to direct sunshine. When sunshine is lacking oi when the minerals min-erals fcre deficient, the bone is inadequately inad-equately formed or it eventually softens. Such diseases as leg weakness weak-ness in chickens, rickets and paralysis in swine, and the loin disease in cattle cat-tle are traceable to these factors. Animals should be so fed and kept that bone disease may be avoided. If the natural foodstuffs are deficient, supplementary feeds, such as milk or milk by-products, tankage or a small amount of stemmed bonemeal must be added to the ration. Direct sunshine usually is not difficult to procure, but when it is, recourse should be had to codliver oil, especially for young aoJ-mals aoJ-mals kept indoors. |