Show minerals in food easy to supply dependable calcium salts not expensive and satisfying dy PH DR IT 11 IL II MITCHELL college of 0 agriculture university 0 j illinois Ill loola in spite of 0 all the mystery and discussion about the feeding of minerals to live stock the whole thing simmers down in most cases to the simple little littie matter of supplying lime 8 salts a and 1 aln common salt in the rations f for 0 r swine e and poultry other classes of live stock so seldom need minerals except tor for common salt that they need not be considered for pigs piga and poultry two or even one of the dependable calcium minerals mixed with salt in the proportion of three or four parts of the mineral to one part of tile the salt makes a simple cheap and effective mineral mixture even this mixture Is 13 an extravagance trava gance when the ration contains calcium rich feeds such as milk products alfalfa or the like it if pigs do not pat eat minerals when getting such rat rations lons in all probability they do not need them there are several calcium salts that are readily available relatively cheap and of proven worth bone meal has no superior as a source both of calcium and phosphorus Dl calcium phosphate Is more soluble than bone meal it Is true but in extensive experiments on growing swine at this station it has not proved superior to bone meal notwithstanding its lel citrate solubility ubi lity citrate solubility means little or nothing tn in animal feeding since animals can digest and absorb extremely insoluble minerals such stich as calcium sil silicate leate phosphate also Is more expensive than bone meal cheaper than either of these two minerals are rock phosphate and limestone of these two limestone Is dinue much h to be preferred As a calcium mineral it Is but little inferior to bone meal and it if tile the ration contains liberal amounts of nitrogenous concentrates which indich are high in phosphorus it Is for nil III practical purposes as good as bone meal lime stones are distinctly less valuable than high cal clum lime stones rock phosphate has not proved to be a good supplement in all cases and unless used tn in restricted strict ed amounts Is distinctly toxic to farm animals in the self feeding of a mineral mixture it would be safer to omit this mineral entirely wood ashes are sometimes good but are always uncertain sources of calcium because of their variable composition |