The relationship between the cobalt nutrition of ewes and the vitamin B12 status of ewes and their lambs

An experiment was undertaken at Mt Cotton, south-east Queensland, to investigate the relationship between the cobalt nutrition of ewes and the occurrence of vitamin B12 deficiency in ewes and their lambs. Ewes received either no supplementary cobalt (C), 0.03 mg cobalt day-1 (LC), 0.06 mg cobalt day-1 (HC) or a cobalt bullet and grinder (CB). LC and HC ewes received their supplement as a weekly drench. Supplementation commenced prior to joining, and ewes subsequently grazed pangola grass pastures containing between 0.05 and 0.11 mg kg-1 cobalt.Cobalt supplementation of ewes increased their liveweight, reproductive and lactation performance. The milk production of ewes was influenced by the level of supplementation, with C, LC, HC and CB ewes producing 31.1, 41.5, 47.7 and 50.31. of milk respectively during the first 4 weeks of lactation. The lower productivity of C ewes was associated with concentrations of vitamin B12 in serum of less than 200 pg ml-1 and with the presence of detectable concentrations of methylmalonic acid (>80 8moles l-1) and formiminoglutamic acid (>30 8moles l-1) in their urine.The growth of lambs was influenced by the cobalt nutrition of their dams; the mean liveweight gain from birth to weaning (14 weeks of age) for lambs from C, LC, HC and CB ewes was 95, 158, 194 and 231 g day-1. Vitamin B12 deficiency was evident in lambs reared by C ewes from 4 weeks of age, but lambs from LC and HC ewes did not become deficient until 8 and 12 weeks of age respectively. Lambs from CB ewes remained free of signs of deficiency prior to weaning. Urinary formiminoglutamic acid concentration was a more reliable indicator of vitamin B12 status in young lambs than urinary methylmalonic acid concentration. The concentrations of vitamin B12 in the serum of lambs were low in all groups (< 150 pg ml-1) and were generally unaffected by the cobalt nutrition of their dams.A dietary cobalt intake of about 0.15 mg day-1 appeared to be necessary for optimal milk production from ewes. However, this level of dietary cobalt was inadequate for provision of sufficient quantities of maternal vitamin B12 to meet the requirements of lambs in the later stages of lactation.