SALT ON THE FARM

Salt in the barn, pasture, range, or feed-lot, is as necessary for an animal's diet as salt in food is for yours. They require it for body chemistry and dietary processes and the wise farmer makes it easily available to them in blocks, licks, loose and mixed with feeds.

Because salt intake is self-regulating, (an animal will only use as much as it requires), it provides an ideal carrying agent for other minerals which they must have and can't always obtain from natural feeds. In animal nutrition these are called Trace Minerals and are important for the prevention of disease and production of better livestock.

Most familiar to us are iodine and cobalt, identified in stock salt by the familiar red and blue colours, added for the prevention of goitre, anemia and loss of appetite. Soils, from which we obtain crops, for food for ourselves and our animals, are often deficient in the minerals, necessary for healthy plant growth. Two of these essential minerals are sodium and chlorine (the elements of salt) which can be supplied, when required, by application of salt either alone or with other fertilizers.