Calcium metabloism
C.M.Newell (reshan@deyr.ultranet.com)
Tue, 26 Nov 1996 21:30:30 -0500 (EST)
OK, it's been a *long* day, and I'm too beat to check my references
right now, but my point about not getting your knickers in a twist about a
little Ca:P imbalance in a bran mash is based on two things:
one, that you are not feeding bran mashes at every meal
two, that serum calcium levels are regulated by the parathyroid
glands, not by the gut. Now, as I said, I;m too tired to look it up
tonight, but periparturient dairy cows, certainly animals with a *high*
calcium requirement, are much less likely to suffer from hypocalcemia if fed
a low calcium diet than a higher calcium diet. Why? Because if the calcium
requirements are being met solely by the diet, the parathyroid become
"sluggish", and therefore unable to quickly meet the body's demands for
more calcium quickly by mobilizing stored calcium.Seems to me that an
analogy with distance horses wouldn't be too far-fetched.
(I mean, this is why horse fed diets high in alfalfa tie up.)
--Charlotte
"The expression in a horse's eye is like a blessing on a good man's house."
--Sayied iben-el Rabil, quoting the Prophet