Response of Cobalt-Deficient Sheep to Intravenously Administered Vitamin B12

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Abstract
Three sheep in a severe cobalt-deficiency as characterized by anemia, body weight loss, lack of appetite, and general moribund condition, were given intravenous injections of 20 µg of vitamin B12 twice per day for 21 days. In all of the cases this treatment was followed by an immediate and remarkable response in feed consumption, vigor, and body weight gain. Blood hemoglobin concentrations rose to normal within 40 to 60 days. The response to treatment continued for about 100 days; then the animals began developing evidence of a second cobalt-deficiency. Two of the sheep were given a second series of vitamin B12 injections (40 µg/day for 21 days), and again exhibited similar responses although the hemoglobin responses were somewhat erratic. The fact that these injections of vitamin B12 brought about such profound responses to sheep fed a cobalt-deficient ration for more than 500 days suggests that vitamin B12 is by far the most important, if not the only, limiting factor in the cobalt-deficient sheep.

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