Salt Blocks

• Composition of a blue Cobalt Iodine Salt Lick:– Salt (NaCl): 99%– Cobalt: 120ppm– Iodine: 180 ppm– Traces of other minerals• The Role of Salt:

– Regulates blood pressure– Maintains body acidity– Involved in muscle contraction and nerve transmission– Chlorine in stomach acid– Cobalt for vitamin B12 synthesis in the rumen– Iodine for thyroid hormones and metabolism

•Ingredients: -SodiumChloride-Calcium Iodate-Cobalt Carbonate-ultramarine coloring

The Salt Lick Menu• White: good old plain

sodium chloride, NaCl and trace elements

• Red: NaCl, trace elements, and additional iodine

• Marbled: Himalayan salt, with high levels of minerals

• Blue: sodium chloride with trace elements and extra cobalt

•Yellow: sodium chloride and trace elements with additional sulfur

• Brown: sodium chloride with additional minerals

The Great Salt Lick Contest“Thou STILL art cow art!”

• 2008 saw the second annual salt lick charity auction in Baker County, Oregon

• Last years contest raised over $4000 from 29 submitted entries

• This years awards include a prize for the block “Most Likely to be Barbequed” and “Closest Resemblance to Michael J Fox or Janet Reno”

• Check out http://www.whitdeschner .com/salt-lick-main.html for more info

Cows

• Cows will drink around 45L of water per day, up to 120 L

• May lick more than 1879 times in one visit to the salt block

• Can produce up to 200L of saliva every day (for chewing cud of course)

•Require 45 g/day or 315 g/week or 16380 g/year – that’s less than one whole salt block

Some Sticky Math…

• Grams removed from block with every lick:(20468g – 20356g = 112grams)= 112 g = 0.06 g/lick

1879 licks

24.8

cm

22.2 cm

• Find volume of the block by multiplying volume of 1/8th of a sphere by the density of the block. First, find the radius of the circle from the block’s dimensions.

One More Calculation…

1. Find Radius of Sphere using Pythagoras's Theorem:

√(11.1cm)2 + (12.4cm)2 =16.6 cm

3. Multiply by density of block:2411.15 cm3 x 2.17g/cm3 = 5232 g

24.8

cm

22.2 cm

2. Find Volume of 1/8th Sphere:4/3 π r3 = 4/3 π (16.6cm)2 x 1/8 = 2411.15 cm3

How Many Licks?

• Time to get to the center: (assuming 1 lick per second)

=87200 licks x 1 second x 1 hour 1 lick 3600 sec= 24.2 hours!

• Licks to get to the center = 5232.2 g

0.06 g/lick = 87200 licks

Drool

Drool