Method of reducing the incidence of infectious diseases and relieving stress in livestock

摘要

The incidence of infectious disease in livestock is reduced and/or stress is relieved by providing the livestock with drinking water containing a catalytically effective amount of a unique catalyst. In a preferred variant, the drinking water may also contain lignite which has been pretreated with the catalyst until it is soluble. The catalyst is prepared by a process including the steps of admixing a water soluble alkali metal silicate with an aqueous medium containing carefully controlled amounts of water soluble substances which are sources of calcium ion and magnesium ion, reacting the same to produce an aqueous colloidal suspension of the reaction product, admixing a micelle forming surfactant with the aqueous medium, and agitating the aqueous medium containing the colloidal particles and surfactant to form catalyst-containing micelles. The preparation of the novel catalyst and the water soluble catalyst treated lignite is described in detail hereinafter. The invention is also useful in obtaining better utilization of feed and for other purposes.