Texas Game and Fish, Volume 7, Number 4, March 1949 Page: 4
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Animals Need Minerals Same as Man
SALT
OF
THE
EARTH
By J. G. Burr
A deer does not know why it will go
farther for salt than for water, nor do
other livestock understand the impera-
tive demand for salt which drives them
to the salt lick. Carniverous animals
probably feel no such need, because the
mammals on which they feed contain
an abundance of salt in their blood and
plasma. The same applies to the can-
nibals who eat human flesh. Robinson
Crusoe had to teach Friday how to eat
meat flavored with salt. A pet bear once
broke into a smoke house and gorged
himself on salt pork which emphasized
the fact that the so-called vegeterian was
in need of salt.
You may have read in the Januar
issue of Texas Game and Fish the re-
port of a Trans-Pecos game warden which
is good enough to be read a second time.
"Common stock salt," said the report,
"has ended a mysterious ailment which
threatened to wipe out the fantail (Sono-
ra) deer in the Big Bend National Park.
"Common stock salt," said the report,
"has ended a mysterious ailment which
threatened to wipe out the fantail (Sono-
ra) deer in the Big Bend National Park.
"Capt. Ray Williams, State game
warden at Alpine, came across the
first clue when he found an accu-
mulation of pebbles in the stomachs
of two deer which had mysteriously
died. Wiliams found that deer in
the prak had acquired the habit of
pawing deeply into the ground and
devouring dirt and pebbles in search
of salt-bearing soil.
"A supply of stock salt was then
placed in the Park and the deer
ceased to die."
And yet there has been a belief
more or less prevalent that the system
can suse only such minerals as are con-
tained in vegetable or animal foods.
Whether this continues to be a contro-
versial matter or not the writer does
not know, but very evidently, any whole-
some mineral which can go into solu-
tion, is available for use by the physical
organism. All of the salts that are es-
sential to life have some measure of
solubility. Just how important to life
are the various salts,was set forth in a
discussion of anemia in fishes, in the De-
cember issue of Texas Fish and Game. Itpoints out the effect of rainwater, which
contains no mineral, on fishes in seasons
of continued flood.
Quite coincidentally, an article in
the December issue of the Saturday Eve-
ning Post discusses the effect of rain-
water on the diet of livestock. Mr.
Herschel Weil of Lexington Kentucky
has several farm on which he fattens
beeves for the market. He found that
on one of the farms there was a daily
gain of 1.4 pounds per animal. Those he
fattened on another farm near by made
a gain of 2-1 pounds per animal. All
the cattle came from the same Texas and
New Mexico ranges. They were fed the
same and cared for alike. One bunch fat-
tened fast enough to make theim profit-
able, and the other did not, according to
the author of the story, Mr. Neil M.
Clark.
There was only one difference in the
way the two bunches of cattle were
treated, said Mr. Weil, the owner of the
farms. Those that made the greater gain
in weight drank from a limestone spring
and from adeep well, the latter pre-
ferred by the cattle. Those making a
poor gain in weight drank from a rain-
water pond and from troughs of city
water. It appeared that something in thewater might be responsible for the dif-
ference. Samples were sent in for analy-
sis with the result that the well water,
which the cattle liked best, contained
a larger percentage of minerals, partic-
ularly sulphur.
What happened and why it happened
to be quite clear, but the Evening Post
writer drapes the whole affair in a veil
of mystery. He seems to deplore the gen-
eral lack of information on such sub-
jects, and winds up a discussion of
nutrients with the remark that "as for
actually knowing just how it works,
we're about where we were half a cen-
tury ago with food."
Many people delight to dwell in the
twilight of realities. There is always a
market for the mysterious and a mini-
mum call for the prose of dry facts, some-
times labeled as the bunk. Nevertheless
there is no such dearth of knowledge as
above inferred. For the past fifty years
Science has been piling up facts on food
both for man and beast. We listened to
lectures on home economics and the
preparation of foods. The minerals in
food and in the human body were wide-
ly discussed. Dr. James Headly toured
the country with a lecture on "How
* Continued on Page 28Turkey Hunt Turns
into Bout with Buck
By Mrs. D. Pauline AlkireIt was all so sudden. I was so sur-
prised and frightened that for an in-
stant I was sure the devil himself was
bent on butting me all over the hill
country. I say INSTANT for it all
happened in an instant, not moments.
It was a nightmare in reality. This is
the way it happened.
On a windy afternoon during hunt-
ing season, I took my .22 and went
hunting for turkey. It was a long way
over the mountains where they had
been roosting, and the sun was getting
low. I saw two turkeys but, they sawme first. Being quite disgusted, I turn-
ed back. I hadn't gone far until I heard
a baby goat crying. It had fallen in a
hole and was half starved. I tucked
the litte fellow under my arm and
started to hunt for it's mother. Seemed
I walked three miles up and down
hills looking for that nannie. I got
so tired I decided to sit for a few
minutes on a felled tree near by. The
tree had been cut about two feet from
the ground and had fallen over but
was still fastened to the trunk, making
* Continued on Page 27TEXAS GAME AND FISH
4
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Texas. Game and Fish Commission. Texas Game and Fish, Volume 7, Number 4, March 1949, periodical, March 1949; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1588224/m1/4/?q=%221949~%22: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.