Ovine cobalt deficiency in the coromandel county

Abstract

Madam:— An important indicator as to whether cobalt deficiency in likely to occur in ruminants is the knowledge of whether deficiency signs can develop on the soil type they are grazing. Andrews (1971) has listed soil types on which cobalt deficiency in sheep and cattle has occurred, or is suspected to have occurred. ⁽¹⁾ The evidence for deficiency was based (in descending order of reliability) on experiments indicating live weight response to cobalt supplementation and/or liver cobalt or vitamin B12 content (i.e. animal tissue tests) and on results of chemical analysis of pasture and soil content. ⁽¹⁾