The relationship between vitamin A, E, and some trace minerals and poor growth in replacement heifers

One of the most important principles of cattle breeding is rearing and feeding of replacement calves. In this clinical survey three groups, consisting of 12-13 months old heifers, inseminated heifers up to 45 days of gestation and 4-5 months pregnant heifers suffering from nutritional problems which exhibited clinical signs of decreased growth rate, general debility, poor coat growth and discoloration and infertility were selected for pooled blood sampling and analysis of vitamin A, E and selenium, copper, zinc and manganese values. There was clear deficiency of vitamin E and manganese while selenium deficiency was slight correlating with clinical signs. It is suspected that improper and mouldy feeds presented to these non-lactating groups resulted in primary and secondary deficiencies of mentioned elements and finally have led to poor growth rate and fertility insufficiency in affected animals.