Here in the Pac. NW and several other parts of the country we are selenium deficient. That is a naturally occurring phenomenon...the parent rock is also selenium deficient. So we diligently fortify feeds and salt mixes with Se for all our livestock.
Ironically, a number of lambing problems I have experienced point directly at selenium deficiency, including low birth weight, weak lambs and one case of retained afterbirth. We've tried Bo-Se (Selenium/Vitamin E) shots according to the label, and we've tried giving the shot prior to birth. Our salt mix is Se fortified as well, to the maximum allowable by law (90 ppm). In this relentless hunt to nail the culprit, selenium is certainly an issue, but it didn't become clear until I ran down zinc. With all our feedstuffs deficient in zinc, I was pretty sure the salt mix would be inadequate, but in fact it brought zinc levels up to fairly acceptable levels. Then I thought, hmm, what about Selenium??? So I ran the numbers out on the Se in the salt mix and determined that at the daily expected intake, the salt would deliver 0.63 mg of Se. The upper end of sheep requirements is .20 mg! Toxicity occurs at 2.0 mg. So what gives? We supplement at 3x the upper requirement. Why are we pumping all this BoSe into our sheep and still looking at possible Se deficiencies??? BoSe delivers vitamin E along with Se, because Se needs vitamin E to work. But guess what....it also needs sulphur. And what's the one thing you never find in salt mixes? Sulphur. So, poring over the reports, I see that the pasture plants are borderline deficient/adequate in sulphur. The problem is, I have also fairly well determined that at borderline amounts of nutrients in the fresh grass, the sheep can't ingest enough fresh grass to meet their requirements. Our soil is extremely low in sulphur. All the hays and grain are all bankrupt for sulphur. Sulphur also plays a lot of other roles in the body, the plants and the soil. At any rate, it is another missing mineral that is very likely affecting the status of my flock. How to supplement it will be my next decision. Best regards, Barb Lee _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
