Salt Requirements of Animals Differ

Each animal has its individual salt requirements. Some want more than others… they need more for proper animal metabolism. Salt requirements will also differ with the feed. A steer on a winter ration of roughage will require much more than a steer on a fattening ration of roughage and grain. Similarly, sheep will require more salt than other animals. A milk cow, giving off salt in every pound of milk will require more than a beef cow. Animals on early summer pasture require more than they do in midsummer. Consequently, it is not enough to mix an arbitrary percentage of salt with the grain rations. This makes no provision for the different requirements of individual animals.

To be sure, it is a good thing to mix salt with the grain ration. But additional salt should also be fed Free Choice so that each animal can help itself to the salt it needs, when and where it wants it.

Why Free Choice Feeding of Salt?

1. The amount of salt varies in different feeds. Some contain less salt than others.

2. Salt requirements vary with the season. The early, succulent growth of pasture, high in potassium, apparently causes the animal body to lose salt. The result is a keen craving for salt which is harder to satisfy in some animals than in others. This same condition may not exist later in the season.

3. Animals differ in their production of milk, eggs, and wool. The salt requirements likewise differ. There is a gram of salt in every pound of milk. It follows that a cow producing 40 pounds of milk daily will require more salt than one that is producing only 30 pounds.

4. Loss of salt through the perspiration of horses and mules varies with the work and the season. More salt is needed in the warm summer months and less in the relatively idle winter months.

5. Farm animals have individual requirements and characteristics… just as humans. Some animals have higher salt needs than others. And only the animal itself knows how much or how little it wants.