Nutritive Value of Pasture. VI. The Utilization by sheep of Mineral-deficient Herbage

A Notable contribution to our knowledge of the factors which influence the nutritive value of grass has been made by Dr J. B. Orr in a recent publication dealing with minerals in pastures and their relation to animal nutrition (l). The treatise was primarily the outcome of the deliberations of a sub-committee appointed in 1926 by the Civil Research Committee of the Cabinet to consider and report on the relationship between the mineral content of pastures and their nutritive value. From the initial enquiries instituted by this sub-committee, it was evident that malnutrition in cattle and sheep arising from deficiency of minerals in grass was widespread in the pastoral areas of the Empire, and that the subject, which was of great economic significance, warranted close and systematic investigation. A report to this effect was duly forwarded to the Civil Research Committee, on whose further recommendation grants were made by the Empire Marketing Board in aid of a comprehensive scheme of investigations into the mineral aspects of pastures within the Empire. A two-fold scheme of work was adopted, actual investigations in selected grassland areas being supplemented by a detailed search of the literature dealing with every phase of the subject.