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Essential Minerals for Animal Feed: Boost Health and Milk Production
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News18•17-10-2026, 17:22
Essential Minerals for Animal Feed: Boost Health and Milk Production
  • •Mineral salts are crucial for strengthening bones and teeth, proper muscle function, and overall health in dairy animals.
  • •Calcium prevents milk fever in cows and buffaloes during calving and supports milk production, found richly in green leafy and legume forage.
  • •Phosphorus prevents pica and reproductive issues, with grains and fish-based products serving as its good sources.
  • •Magnesium, sodium, chloride, and potassium maintain water balance, nerve function, and muscle contraction in livestock.
  • •Iron, copper, iodine, and selenium prevent diseases like anemia, goiter, and cell damage, ensuring optimal growth and milk yield.

Key Questions Answered

Mineral salts play an important role along with carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and vitamins by helping make animals' bones and teeth strong, ensuring proper muscle function, and assisting in essential bodily processes. A deficiency in these minerals can cause various diseases in animals.

A deficiency of calcium at the time of calving in cows and buffaloes can lead to a disease called milk fever. Dairy animals require more calcium because it is depleted from their bodies along with milk production.

Pica is a condition where animals begin to eat dirt or other unnecessary things due to a deficiency of phosphorus in their diet. Phosphorus is essential for bone formation and providing energy to the body.