Boluses of controlled release glass for supplementing ruminants with cobalt

Boluses of controlled release glass containing cobalt and weighing approximately either 60 g or 14.5 g were administered to 22 steers and 21 sheep respectively. The steers were housed and slaughtered at intervals between 17 and 145 days after dosing. The boluses released more than 0.85 mg cobalt daily. In both untreated and dosed animals serum and liver vitamin B12 concentrations were at the upper end of the normal range. Two types of glass were administered to sheep. In five wethers one glass released 0.07 mg cobalt per day, and in 16 grazing lambs a second glass released more than 0.15 mg cobalt per day. Fourteen of the boluses were recovered from the lambs up to 276 days after dosing. The concentration of B12 in serum of lambs increased significantly from a mean +/- sd of 1.64 +/- 0.47 to 2.02 +/- 0.04 ng/ml serum and the concentration in liver from 3.84 +/- 0.85 to 4.99 +/- 0.72 micrograms/g dry weight liver.