Abstract
Summary
Two hundred seventy-six wether feeder lambs were divided into 7 lots for 98-day fattening period. The animals were selffed total mixed ground milo-molasses-alfalfa-cottonseed hull diets calculated to contain the same total digestive nutrients with urea or cottonseed meal as a source of supplementary nitrogen. Twenty-six deaths from urinary calculi occurred. There were significantly fewer death losses in groups of lambs fed diets containing 10 mg chlortetracycline/lb of feed than in lambs receiving control diets. Also, fewer deaths occurred among lambs fed diets containing urea than among those receiving cottonseed meal as a source of nitrogen. Observations of calculi in the kidney of 146 of the remaining lambs at slaughter revealed a lower incidence and less calculi in those lambs having received chlortetracycline in the diet. The possibility of a physiological effect of dietary chlortetracycline on the reduction of renal calculi formation and subsequent death from urinary calculi is suggested.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.