Ball bearings improve water flow

I stopped at a yard sale this morning.  The lady was selling some fence.  I need the fence because the Captain's cattle have been hard on the oldest section of fence still standing.

Different lady.  Same idea.

This lady raises cart goats. She has two Oberhasli and a Tottenburg.

She was pretty happy.  She had endured a plague of urinary tract stones.  Not her own.  The goats'.  She recently figured out the cause of the problem.

Her goats seemed particularly predisposed to the problem.  For one thing, they are wethers.  That is, they were castrated at a young age.  Deprived of testosterone, they don't stink (as much), don't grow horns (as long), are (a little) less aggressive.  Also, their male pieces-parts do not grow as large.

As anybody who sprayed weeds can tell you; the smaller the nozzle the more quickly it plugs up.

There is another factor at play.  Male animals who received the benefit of testosterone have male pieces-parts that transform in size.  The growing-and-shrinking benefits the animal by mechanically walking the stone out the length of the urethra.

That is a lot of benefits from a couple of ball bearings.

Incidentally, the lady was able to identify the large mulberry shading her back yard as the problem.  The leaves are exceptionally rich in calcium.  Fresh mulberry leaves have been measured with almost 0.8% calcium or 2.2% on a dry-weight basis.  Alfalfa, often considered a high calcium forage, which has 1.2% calcium on a dry basis.

Her goats are now separated from the mulberry trees.