STOCK AILMENTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 June 1938, Page 10

STOCK AILMENTS

VALUE OF COBALT SALTS.

EXAMINATION OF PASTURES.

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) ■ NELSON, June 8.

In view of the striking results obtained by the Cawthron Institute in overcoming slock ailments by the use of cobalt salts at Glenhope and Sherry Valley, it has been decided to examine representative pastures for cobalt on all major soil types in the Nelson district.

During the past season stock trials confirmed the previous investigations of the institute concerning the great importance of cobalt as a supplement for stock on granite soils. Stock licks, containing equal parts of salt, bonemeal and a small quantity of cobalt chloride, have enabled ewes and lambs to be carried in splendid condition on pastures which were known to be “unsound” for stock. At Glenhope the use of cobaltised superphosphate, supplying 21b of cobalt chloride per acre, has given astonishing results in maintaining stock in health and promoting an increase in live weight. Pasture samples will be prepared for analysis inf the chemical laboratory of the institute and the cobalt contents determined.

Although the amount of cobalt contained in a pasture is so minute (about 0.15 part a million of drygrass) chemical methods are so delicate that a chemist has no difficulty in estimating even 0.01 part a million of dry grass.