RESEARCH at the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station and elsewhere has shown that certain mineral elements in feeds are essential to the proper nourishment and growth of animals, and that an otherwise good feed may not contain enough of some essential mineral to supply the need of the animal for that particular element. This fact makes it important to feed a well-selected combination of feeds that, as a whole, contains enough of the needed minerals, or to use an appropriate mineral supplement in connection with certain feeds.

An important principle of good animal husbandry is to feed liberal quantities of nutritious, appetizing feeds containing the right proportion of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and minerals, and to see that clean water and salt are always available. If this is done no conditioners, tonics, or complex mineral mixtures are needed.  They are more likely to be harmful than beneficial.

Four mineral elements are needed in rather large amounts by all farm animals, including poultry. These are sodium, chlorine, calcium, and phosphorus. The sodium and chlorine are supplied by common salt. And the calcium and phosphorus, if more of these are needed than are contained in the roughages and grains in the ration, can be supplied by ground limestone and steamed bonemeal.

Salt. Common salt, which is a compound of sodium and chlorine, is a necessary supplement to all feeds, and should be kept before all farm animals at all times. Some stockmen who do not follow this practice fail to salt their animals regularly, not because they do not recognize the need, but because they forget or neglect to do it. Keeping the salt before the animals at all times eliminates this danger of forgetting. Furthermore, animals need salt every day just as humans do; and if it is kept in a container sheltered from rain and dust, farm stock will take what they need daily. Sheep and hogs, and sometimes cattle also, if kept without salt for too long, have a craving for it and are inclined to overeat of it when they get to it. As a result they may die from salt poisoning.

Calcium and Phosphorus. A large part of the mineral material of the bones and teeth of domestic livestock consists of calcium and phosphorus. Deficiency of calcium results in weakening the bones, lameness, or even fractures of the bones, while phosphorus deficiency causes stiffness and soreness of the joints, listlessness and lack of appetite, and even depraved appetite manifested by eating dirt, chewing bones or wood. Milder symptoms of the deficiency of one or both of these minerals are slow growth, poor condition, or unsatisfactory milk production in lactating animals.
   Both calcium and phosphorus are present in varying amounts in the common feeds and concentrates, the exact amounts depending on the kind of feed and the supply of these elements in the soil on which the feeds were grown. The average amounts of calcium and phosphorus in the common feeds are shown in the table on page 2. An otherwise good ration, that does not contain enough calcium and phosphorus, should be supplemented by feeding ground limestone and steamed bonemeal of feeding grade.
   Investigations have shown that there should be at least as much calcium as phosphorus in a ration, and perhaps twice as much. If there is a great deal more calcium than phosphorus in the ration, the phosphorus cannot be used effectively. On the other hand, if there is a great deal more phosphorus than calcium, then calcium is used less efficiently. However, even if calcium and phosphorus are present in the right amounts and the right proportion, they will be poorly used unless vitamin D is present. Vitamin D is obtained by animals from effect of sunlight or from the consumption of sun-cured roughages. This fact emphasizes the need for animals to be out in the sunshine, and for the feeding of sun-cured hays and other sun-cured roughages. Roughages not sun-cured, such as dehydrated alfalfa meal, do not contain vitamin D.

Iodine is another essential mineral, but it is needed only in small quantities as compared with the four already mentioned. Feeds grown in Kentucky usually contain all the iodine needed by animals.  In areas in the United States where the grains and herbage do not get enough iodine out of the soil to meet the needs of animals, the use of iodized salt for livestock is a very efficient and inexpensive method of preventing goiter and other disturbances that often develop when feed or food is deficient in iodine.

Many other minerals are needed by farm animals, but practically always these are found in abundance in grains and herbage, and are therefore usually no problem to the feeder. Some of these minerals are iron, copper, sulfur, magnesium, boron, manganese, zinc, and cobalt.

Fluorine. Some mineral elements are injurious to farm animals.  Fluorine, even in small quantities, is injurious. It causes bones and teeth to lose their normal color and to soften. In addition to the effect on the bones and teeth, too great an amount of flourine interferes with food consumption and growth. The usual grains and grasses fed to farm animals do not contain enough fluorine to be injurious. The danger usually comes from feeding ground raw rock phosphate as a phosphorus supplement. There is enough fluorine in raw rock phosphate to injure the animals, if much of it is consumed over a period of time. For this reason, ground raw rock phosphate should not be used as a phosphorus supplement.

Selenium. In regions where selenium is abundant in the soil it produces the “alkali disease” in animals, but fortunately selenium poisoning is no problem in Kentucky.

Growing plants cannot store mineral nutrients unless the minerals are in the soil in a form available for the plants. Farm lands of the United States, and consequently the plants grown on them, vary greatly in their content of calcium and phosphorus. Those soils which are to any great extent deficient in these minerals will grow herbage and grains which will be more or less deficient in them. For example, Korean lespedeza grown on a certain limestone soil contained 0.32 percent of phosphorus and 1.28 percent of calcium; but grown on soil outside the limestone area it contained 0.14 percent of phosphorus and 0.89 percent of calcium. This difference is so great that under some conditions animals using the lespedeza with smaller mineral content might be improperly nourished.

The careful feeder provides in palatable feeds the mineral nutrients needed by his animals. If hays, stover, and grains grown on soil deficient in calcium and phosphorus are fed, ground limestone will be needed as a supplement for calcium, or steamed bonemeal for both calcium and phosphorus.

Salt should be available at all times.

Young calves. Young calves require more calcium and phosphorus, to meet the needs of their growing bones, than older cattle do. If calves are nursing or getting skimmilk they need no additional calcium. If the soil of the pasture where they are kept is not deficient in phosphorus, no additional phosphorus will be needed as long as the pasture is adequate. If the soil is deficient in phosphorus, the calves should have access to steamed bonemeal.
   Occasionally, confined calves develop rickets. Rickets in calves can best be prevented or beginning stages cured by feeding a well- balanced ration made up of a good grain mixture and a good, sun- cured legume hay, and by keeping the calves where they will have access to sunlight during the day.

Cows and calves. Cows nursing calves while on early spring pasture may need calcium, which can be given in the form of ground limestone. If as much as 6 or 7 pounds of good legume hay daily, in addition to grass hay or corn stover, is fed to beef cows in calf, during the winter, it will furnish sufficient calcium but not enough phosphorus even if some grain is fed. The phosphorus should be supplied by allowing the cattle free access to steamed bonemeal.

The bull. Bulls that are fed grain and mixed hay during winter need no mineral supplement other than salt. If no legume hay is fed, calcium should be supplied by ground limestone, free choice. It would be well to provide limestone in a self-feeder when grain is fed to bulls on pasture.

Stockers and feeder cattle. Beef cattle that are fed an adequate amount of a well-balanced feed made up of a grain mixture and good legume hay need no calcium or phosphorus added to their ration. Nor will calcium or phosphorus supplements be needed when beef cattle are on abundant pasture of mixed grasses and legumes.
   Cattle wintered on straw and cottonseed meal, or on corn or sorghum silage and cottonseed meal, should have ground limestone before them at all times. Even if grain is added to any of these feeds, for fattening, the animals should have access to ground limestone.

Limestone needed with distillery slop. In Kentucky large numbers of beef cattle are fed distillery slop, a by-product of distillation. Distillery slop is high in protein, lacks carbohydrates, and has too much phosphorus in proportion to the amount of calcium. Instead of the normal ratio in a balanced ration, of 2 parts calcium to 1 part phosphorus, it contains from 4 to 10 times as much phosphorus as calcium. This disproportion often produces in cattle stiffness, soreness of the joints, and a general condition of unthriftiness.
   These undesired effects can be prevented by feeding ground limestone free choice. In trials at the Experiment Station, 2 to 3 ounces of fine-ground limestone per steer per day (the rate at which limestone was consumed free choice with distillery slop) has furnished enough calcium to balance the phosphorus. No complex mixture of minerals is needed. To get the desired gain from feeding slop, however, some corn or other grain, and a carbonaceous roughage such as timothy hay, grass hay, shredded fodder, or cottonseed hulls should be fed also to supply at least part of the deficiency of carbohydrates.

Salt should be available at all times.

Growing heifers. Young dairy stock on pasture or legume hay do not generally need any supplementary mineral matter except salt.  However, it is good practice to keep a sheltered box containing bonemeal where they can always have ready access to it.

Producing cows (average). Sufficient quantities of calcium and phosphorus are furnished in a well-balanced ration, without any mineral supplement other than salt, for cows producing 20 to 25 pounds of milk daily. Such cows need about 1 ounce of phosphorus and 1 to 2 ounces of calcium a day. A ration consisting of alfalfa hay, corn silage and seven pounds of a 4-2-1 mixture of corn, wheat bran, and cottonseed meal, furnishes 2.7 ounces of calcium and 1.4 ounces of phosphorus daily, amounts which actually exceed the requirements of a cow for these essential minerals. This ration has proved successful in many Kentucky herds for a period of several years.

High-producing cows. High-producing cows and cows in the early stage of lactation need more calcium and phosphorus than they receive in an otherwise balanced ration. Liberal feeding during a six to eight weeks’ dry period does much toward fortifying the cow’s body with a store of these elements with which to withstand the hard work of heavy production. However, many more dairy cows suffer from insufficient feed and poorly balanced rations than from a lack of minerals.
   Bonemeal, fed free choice, eliminates practically all the possibility of any mineral deficiency in a herd of high-producing cows.

Salt should be available at all times.

Mare and foal. The mare in foal and the stallion in service have extra demands for calcium and phosphorus, but these demands are supplied if the animals are fed such feeds as oats, bran, corn, barley, and legume hay If the farmer has only grass hays and corn to feed, the pregnant mare will need a protein concentrate and should have access to steamed bonemeal. Mares nursing foals and doing farm work should have oats or bran with corn supplemented with some legume hay or protein concentrate, and should be allowed free access to steamed bonemeal.

Weanlings. During the first winter, weanlings that are fed oats, bran, ground barley or cracked corn, with mixed hay at least half of which is legume, need no mineral supplement other than salt.

Yearlings. Yearlings and two-year-olds kept on bluegrass pasture in the summer and given oats and bran when the grass is drying, need no mineral supplement other than salt, nor will they need a mineral supplement other than salt if fed in winter on oats, bran, crushed barley or cracked corn, with legumes as a part of the roughage.

Workstock. The usual grain fed to horses and mules at work, in Kentucky, is corn or oats, or a combination of the two. If either of these grains is fed with grass hay the workstock should have a protein concentrate, and, in addition, should have ground limestone free choice. 1f any good legume hay is fed with the grain, no mineral supplement other than salt is needed. Idle workstock, grazing on abundant pasture which contains legumes, need no calcium or phosphorus supplements.
   Horses at work during warm weather lose large amounts of water and salt thru sweating. To replace these losses they should be given all the clean, fresh water they will drink, three or four times during the day, and should have access to salt at every feeding. On unusually hot days horses at work should be watered, by pail if necessary, about every two hours.

Salt should be available at all times.

Hogs should have free access to clean, fresh water.

Brood sow and pigs. Pigs and brood sows not running on pasture should be self-fed a good sun-cured legume hay to provide calcium and vitamins A and D. This is especially advisable during the winter when pastures are not available.
  It is impossible to provide feeds for a sow suckling pigs that will enable her to furnish a sufficient amount of iron and copper in her milk to protect the pigs from anemia. For this reason, young pigs kept on concrete floors or on soiled dirt floors of barns should be furnished fresh soil or sod from a field not used for hogs. The pigs will eat the soil or sod and so obtain the needed iron and copper.  Another way to provide the needed iron and copper is to paint the udders of the sow once a day with a solution made by dissolving 1 pound of copperas (iron sulfate) in three pints of water.

Boars. Boars fed tankage, fish meal, or milk by-products in sufficient quantity to balance the ration need no additional minerals other than salt.

Fattening hogs. Hogs on full feed require no calcium or phosphorus supplement if fed a sufficient quantity of tankage, fish meal or milk by-products to balance the ration. If fed a concentrate mixture made up entirely of feeds of vegetable origin, hogs should get fine-ground limestone or bonemeal or both, fed free choice.

Hogs fed distillery slop should have access to fine-ground limestone in a self-feeder.

Lye and hard-wood ashes are injurious to hogs and should not be fed to them.

Salt should be available at all times.

The flock. Sheep should have free access to clean water and salt in containers sheltered from rain and snow and so constructed that the sheep cannot get their feet into them. Coarse barrel salt is preferable to block salt for sheep. Free choice of salt for sheep after they become gradually accustomed to it is much better than salting once a week. If sheep are deprived of salt for too long an interval they will overeat of it, resulting in salt poisoning and death.
   If sheep are grazed on abundant forage on fertile soil, or fed in winter a liberal amount of legume hay and a good grain mixture, they need no mineral supplement except salt.

Ewes and lambs. Ewes nursing lambs in early spring and grazing on small grain or bluegrass pasture, without legume hay being fed, may need some additional calcium, which can be supplied by a high-grade ground limestone in a self-feeder.
   If ewes are carried thru the winter mainly on legume hay, with little or no grain, they may need phosphorus, which can be supplied by steamed bonemeal in a self-feeder. Ewes wintered on a good grain mixture with a nonlegume roughage will likely need a calcium supplement given in the form of ground limestone.
   If ewes are kept long on sparse pasture to dry up the milk flow alter weaning their lambs, they should have access to steamed bonemeal. This will not be needed when they are turned on luxuriant grass for flushing before breeding.

Grains and their by-products, which constitute the major portion of poultry rations, do not contain sufficient calcium, phosphorus, sodium and chlorine (salt) to meet the requirements for growth, high egg production, and good hatchability. Consequently, such rations must be supplemented with these elements for best results, but these materials should not be fed greatly in excess of the amounts needed. Complex mineral mixtures, aside from being unnecessary and costly, sometimes contain ingredients in such amounts as to prove harmful when added to normal balanced rations.

Growing chicks. Rations should contain approximately 0.8 to 1 percent calcium and 0.5 to 0.8 percent phosphorus.
   The starting and growing mash should contain 1 percent salt.
   If the mash contains as much as 7½ percent of meat scrap or fish meal, no calcium or phosphorus supplement is required. One pound of bonemeal should be added for each 5 pounds of a vegetable protein used to replace meat scrap or bonemeal in the mash.
   If meat scrap or fish meal is not used in the mash 2 percent of bonemeal should be added.
   When liquid condensed, or dried milk is used as a sole source of animal protein, 2 percent of steamed fish meal should be added to the mash.
Chicks which are not allowed range from the beginning should have about 25 percent of mixed wheat feed (shipstuff) or wheat middlings in the ration in order to supply ample manganese for the prevention of slipped tendons. If wheat by-products are not used, 4 ounces of manganese sulfate should be added to each ton of mash, and mixed thoroly.

In an experiment at the Kentucky Station comparing coarsely ground wheat with cornmeal for fattening steers, it was found that the steers ate 2.24 ounces of ground limestone, free choice, per head daily. This was because the ration contained more phosphorus than calcium. In addition to a full feed of corn or wheat, the steers were given cottonseed meal, corn silage, and wheat straw. The following year, in a comparison of alfalfa hay with soybean hay for fattening steers fed a full feed of corn, no ground limestone free choice was consumed, the legume hay supplying sufficient calcium.

The following example shows how to calculate the amounts of calcium and phosphorus in a ration, using the percentages listed in the table on page 2.