Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-g78kv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-28T07:34:30.652Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Further observations on the blood copper of Northumbrian sheep

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

A. Eden
Affiliation:
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Veterinary Laboratory, New Haw, Weybridge, Surrey

Extract

1. Blood copper data are reported on ninety-four sheep divided into four experimental groups on a “border-pining” hill-side in Northumberland in 1940, in comparison with more extensive findings reported in 1939.

2. The mean value for comparable sheep was 0·080 mg. % in 1940 as compared with 0·086 mg. % in 1939, the overall range, 0·013–0·210 mg.%, being even wider than before.

3. Variations between animals comprising a group were as wide as between groups, and blood levels were not affected by moderate variations in Cu intake. Only in young sheep was there any evidence that a mineralized cake supplement, containing copper sufficient to double the natural grazing intake, had any elevating effect on blood copper.

4. Variations between values for the same individuals in 1939 and in 1940 were as wide as between different individuals in either year. Over 25% of the sheep showed Cu levels in 1940 falling within ±0·01 mg. % of their 1939 values, but nearly 20% showed figures differing by more than ± 0·05 mg. %, irrespective of differences in group treatments.

5. The significance of the figures, for normal. Northumbrian ewes is discussed in relation to those reported for Derbyshire ewes bearing lambs affected with “enzootic ataxia” or “swayback”.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1941

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bennetts, H. & Chapman, F. E. (1937). Aust. vet. J. 13, 138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunlop, G. & Wells, H. (1938). Vet. Rec. 50, 1175.Google Scholar
Dunlop, G., Innes, J. R. M., Shearer, G. D. & Wells, H. (1939). J. comp. Path. 52, 259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eden, A. (1939). J. comp. Path. 52, 249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eden, A. & Green, H. H. (1940). Biochem. J. 34, 1202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Innes, J. R. M. & Shearer, G. D. (1940). J. comp. Path. 53, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tompsett, S. L. & Anderson, D. F. (1935). Brit. J. exp. Path. 16, 67.Google Scholar