In humans, consumption of cobalt-containing vitamin B12 meets all needs for cobalt. For cattle and sheep, which meet vitamin B12 needs via synthesis by resident bacteria in the rumen, there is a function for inorganic cobalt. In the early 20th century, during the development of farming on the
North Island Volcanic Plateau of New Zealand, cattle suffered from what was termed "bush sickness". It was discovered that the volcanic soils lacked the cobalt salts essential for the cattle food chain. The "coast disease" of sheep in the
Ninety Mile Desert of the
Southeast of
South Australia in the 1930s was found to originate in nutritional deficiencies of trace elements cobalt and copper. The cobalt deficiency was overcome by the development of "cobalt bullets", dense pellets of cobalt oxide mixed with clay given orally for lodging in the animal's
rumen. File:Cobalamin.svg |alt=chemical diagram of cobalamin molecule|
Cobalamin File:CSIRO ScienceImage 10487 Cobalt deficient sheep.jpg |alt=two cobalt-deficient sheep facing away from camera|Cobalt-deficient sheep == References ==