Azomite International

A Natural Source of Minerals and Trace Elements
Azomite® In Animals

Farmers who raise production animals increase their profits when they improve their animals’ average daily lean gain, feed conversion ratio and ability to fight disease.

But the typical “complete” feed is often lacking many beneficial and essential trace mineral elements that AZOMITE® provides. This chart describes just a few of AZOMITE®’s trace elements that are in short supply in key feed ingredients:

Trace Element

Amount In
Fish Meal

Amount In Maize Bran

Amount In
Rice Bran

Amount In
Soya

Chromium (Cr)

0.9 ppm

-

-

-

Cobalt (Co)

0.1 ppm

-

0.1 ppm

0.2 ppm

Nickel (Ni)

-

-

-

21 ppm

Vanadium (V)

-

-

-

-

Iodine (I)

-

-

-

0.22 ppm

Molybdenum (Mo)

0.4 ppm

-

0.3 ppm

2.8 ppm

Source: The Minerals Directory:
2nd Edition; Dr. I Ewing, PhD;
2007; ISBN: 978-1-899043-11-8

Decades of farming and erosion have removed most of the trace mineral content from the world’s soils --- some regions worse than others. This means animals that eat feed grown in depleted topsoil consume a diet deficient in trace mineral elements.  Of course, feed manufacturers add mineral mixes -- usually containing only about 10 minerals -- but an animal’s biochemistry is extremely complex and requires many more minerals whose function science may not yet fully understand.

Animals can survive with deficiencies in many essential trace minerals, but the result is cellular breakdown, reduced immune functions, and lower average daily lean gain. Adding AZOMITE® to animal feed completes the full range of minerals and allows an animal to live at its optimum health and weight.

The biochemistry of trace mineral elements is extremely complex. Lack of one can negatively affect the requirement for other elements and a long chain of biochemical events can be disrupted. For a list of some of the mineral elements in AZOMITE® and their known functions and benefits in animals, click here.

This diagram (below) is a partial representation of mineral interrelationships. This diagram only represents the known interactions; science still does not have a complete understanding of most of the trace elements.

A Note About the Rare Earth Elements in AZOMITE®

AZOMITE® contains Rare Earth Elements (644 ppm) which several scientific studies** have shown to improve weight gain and health in animals. 

The term “Rare Earth Elements” refers to the fifteen elements from numbers 57 to 71 on the periodic table. "Earth" is an old term for oxide and "Rare" was used because some of these elements were believed to be scarce in the Earth’s crust.

The low molecular weight Rare Earth Elements found in AZOMITE® -- notably, Lanthanum (La), Cerium (Ce) and Praseodymium (Pr) -- have an impact on many processes in biochemistry. Cellular protein synthesis requires an enzyme called peptidyl transferase which is stimulated by Rare Earth Elements – resulting in increased lean gain in animals. However, more study is needed to gain a full understanding of Rare Earth Elements and their function in biochemistry.

 

**Archives of Animal Nutrition, 2000. Vol. 53; pp. 323-334; “Rare Earth Elements – A New Generation of Growth Promoters for Pigs?”

Pig News & Information; 26(2), 41N – 47N; “Use of rare earth elements as feed additives in pig production”

 

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