- Trace minerals are considered essential for optimum health, growth and productivity, carrying out key functions as catalysts for enzymes and hormones.
- Animal studies as early as the 1950s have demonstrated the link between trace mineral deficiency and increased morbidity, including poor growth and weak muscles.
- Veterinary science recognizes the role trace minerals play in avoiding deficiency diseases, and widespread supplementation from the 1950s to the 1990s has largely eradicated these diseases in farm animals.
- In accordance with this established science it is still common for trace mineral supplements to be given to both large and small livestock animals.