Table salt improves the flavor of our meat and vegetables. But it is also one of the chemicals our body needs to keep in good running order. The body’s liquids need a trace of salt, just so much a: id no more. Salt is also needed to help the digestion of food and the circulation of the blood. The chemical we call table salt is also needed by cows and other animals.

Sometimes the cow’s grassy diet does not contain enough salt so the farmer provides a lump of compressed salt for her to lick. Deer and other wild animals find natural salt licks and salty springs for themselves. A salt lick is a lump of rock which contains ordinary salt. 14hen a deer licks it, the salt dissolves on his tongue   which is just what happens when a cow licks a lump of compressed salt.