Abstract
A LARGE area under pasture in Somerset cannot be grazed by cows during the normal grazing season (April–October) without milk yields falling rapidly, causing marked loss of condition and even death. The disorder, which has been known for very many years, is marked by extreme diarrhœa; Other cattle and sheep also scour on such herbage, though the loss of condition is no tso obvious as with the milking animal. Such fields are described as being ‘teart’. The area involved is estimated at about 20,000 acres Gimingham1, and the annual loss to the farming community must be very great. The available information seems to rule out bacteria, parasites, water supply or a particular herb as causal agents, and points to the presence of some constituent of the soil taken up by the herbage2.
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References
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FERGUSON, W., LEWIS, A. & WATSON, S. Action of Molybdenum in Nutrition of Milking Cattle. Nature 141, 553 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/141553a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/141553a0
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