what?":1fmm94em said:
PICA
USUALLY CATTLE ARE SALT DEFICIENT WHEN DRINKING URINE.
SULPHUR DEFICIENT WHEN EATING DIRT OR IS IT PHOSPHORUS ONE OR THE OTHER I WOULD HAVE TO LOOK IT UP.
Really. :? See below:
For pica:
SLURRY/URINE DRINKING
Persistent drinking of slurry or urine (sometimes drunk directly from other animals) occurs mainly as a herd problem in calved cows wintered indoors or in yards.
The problem is more aesthetic than economic, as general herd health and productivity is usually normal. However, as infected urine or slurry can spread infectious agents (such as TB, Salmonella, Leptospira, BVD etc), the vice is undesirable.
CAUSES
The causes are largely unknown. Suggested causes include: metabolic disorders associated with high milk yield and low roughage intake (high quality silage (high DMD) and dairy ration); subclinical ketosis; subclinical acidosis (with craving for alkaline material); mineral deficiency (P, Mg, Na, trace-minerals).
Investigation usually is futile. It has aspects of a learned vice, associated with boredom: once it starts, it usually spreads rapidly through the group. Poor yard drainage, or poor concrete (allowing pooling of effluent, slurry or urine) is usual. Otherwise, there appear to be few etiological factors in common.
One can test blood and/or feed for mineral deficiency (Na, Cu, Co, P, Mg etc) but many cases investigated by us over the past 20 years have failed to confirm any specific deficiency as a main cause.
REMEDIAL ACTIONS: IDENTIFY AND CORRECT THE CAUSES
If detected early (when only a few animals are affected), removal of the culprits to a separate area may prevent the vice from spreading to the rest of the group.
Provision of extra roughage (some straw or hay) and 30% inclusion of pulp (beet- or citrus-) in the concentrate feed, improvement of yard drainage and resurfacing of pitted concrete occasionally helps.
If blood or silage tests indicate Na, P, Mg or trace mineral deficiency, feeding of salt or a high-quality mineral (see below) may be tried. However, salt or high quality mineral mixes, even at high levels, often fail to control the problem.
http://homepage.eircom.net/~progers/picaurin.htm