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In Reply to: Urea in feed posted by Jerry on August 21, 2001 at 18:07:46:
I'm not sure how they do this in the United States - especially in areas where there is alot of snowfall and ice, but when I lived in Germany (on a farm), urea was used strictly for the purpose of spreading on roads to melt ice and snow. The reason why I asked in the first place is because it always stunk when they plowed the roads.
I don't know if this practice still exists or not. It was also used in the production of gas and oil. Basically he told me in German that it was only good for things like fertilizer, snowy roads and industry, but never as a food product.
Farms and manufacturing would provide the by product used to help create the urea (naturally) and in discussing this with the farmer where I lived, he told me that it was at one time a practice in Germany (and the Benelux countries) to use urea in feed but discontinued for health reasons.
While it may be safe to some extent for cows, it really isn't preferred because (and I know this sounds gross but it gets my point across), we as humans would not expect to ingest our own feces or urine would we? Not that ALL urea is produced from urine (in which "natural" urea is found as a product of protein metabolism) - perhaps the greatest portion of urea here in the US is synthesized.
Some animals can get by with this - mainly poultry and fowl who have physiological and metabolic differences. So I am one of many who would tell the feed store or mill to take a hike with their urea based products.
And I did some research on this since the first post was made because the use of urea is akin to the hoople about GMO - genetically modified organics; some people approve, some disapprove.
It appears there is some relationship that exists between Ammonium Chloride, ammonia and urea. If I understand correctly, a certain enzyme of urea is responsible for removing ammonia is the bloodstream. Lack of this action is called the Urea Cycle Disorder:
http://www.nucdf.org/what_is.htm
While this is dealing strictly with humans, does it not make sense that it would also be a problem for let's say, goats?
Check this out: "On treating silver cyanate with ammonium chloride solution he obtained a white crystalline material which proved identical to urea obtained from urine."
"Urea and malonic acid react to form barbituric acid. Urea is also used in the production of various acylureas and urethanes for use as sedatives and hypnotics."
Personally. I would prefer to not feed urea to my animals as I just do not think that enough research has been done on it as a nutrition supplement. I think someone has figured that since it is already a by product of the body, it must be safe as an ingredient as well.
Best regards,
Gary Pfalzbot
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