Mineral deficiencies and toxicities in livestock cause significant welfare harm and are preventable through appropriate nutritional management and supplementation.
Mineral nutrition represents a relatively neglected aspect of farm animal welfare where preventable suffering is widespread. Deficiency diseases cause pain, neurological dysfunction and death in significant numbers of livestock annually. The suffering caused by selenium deficiency or copper deficiency is acute and distressing, yet both are entirely preventable through appropriate testing and supplementation. Regular soil, forage and blood sampling to identify deficiencies before clinical disease develops is the most welfare-positive approach.