Studies of the cattle of Northern Rhodesia: I. The growth of steers under normal veld grazing, and supplemented with salt and protein

Abstract

1. With steers of indigenous cattle, the supplementation of veld grazing with two levels of salt with and without protein in the dry season has been investigated.2. The feeding of 1 oz. of salt speeded up growth to a strongly significant degree, but under the experimental conditions no benefit was obtained during the dry season from adding a protein supplement to the salt. Protein supplementation without salt produced no significant effects upon growth.3. The addition of 2 oz. of supplementary salt was found to give some increase in growth when compared with the control, but appeared to exert an inhibitory action as compared with the lower salt level, and again there was no benefit gained from the addition of a protein supplement in the dry season. No reason can yet be given for this.4. Additional evidence has been given to support the suggestion that the tropical indigenous animal possesses the capacity to stop growing during adverse nutritional conditions.