Cow magnets

Do any of you circus goers know about cow magnets? What about Hardware Disease? Any bells? Nope?

We all know that cows eat grass. They also eat most everything else that comes in the way of their muzzles. You know, like dirt, maybe a snail or two, weeds, um what else is there, uh.., nails, staples, bailing wire. All manner of things go down their gullet. But the latter bits of metal irritate their gut and make them sick, sick with Hardware Disease. Bessie won't produce as much milk. Ferdinand won't put more weight on his steaks. What is a cattle baron supposed to do? Hoover his pastures? Nah. Get a cow magnet that's what. These powerful magnets park themselves in the bovine gut and attract stray metal, directing it away from the delicate crevices of the rumen and reticulum where they do their damage. "One magnet works for the life of the cow!" Magnet Source boasts.

There you have your choice of the Ru-Master 5 Cow Magnet ("The Ultimate Heavy-Duty Cow Magnet!" pictured above), the Alnico 5 Cow Pill ("A favorite of Dairymen and Vets for over 30 years!"), and last but not least the epoxy coated Ceramic Cow Magnet (don't be fooled by the square shape. "Rounded corners ensure safe and easy passage to the reticulum").

Do they work? Darn right they do. Laura Hungerford, DVM, MPH, PhD replies to a cow magnet query on Ask a Scientist:

...having seen old magnets taken from cows that died of other things, there is sometimes an amazing number of dangerous looking metal objects trapped on the magnet.

Which conjures up the image of a cow mag desperately clinging onto a little .22, a switchblade, a razor blade or two, a syringe, and any other metal objects that are banned on planes - 'til death did them part.

Comments

[coturnix]

Long, long time ago, when I was still in vet school, we had a cow carcass brought in for an autopsy. They did some X-rays first, before cutting the cow up. She hed a huge nail (like 4 inches long at least!) stuck in her reticulum, going out of her reticulum and almost hitting the heart. The cow died because the pericardium hardened and thickened in response, in the end stopping the heart itself.

[Anne]

Guawah. That is a horrible mental image. Damn. Damn damn. How wide is a cow gullet? And is bovine peristalsis so very powerful that it simply pushes a 4 inch pointy metal impediment downwards with a woeful disregard of the risk?

Thanks for sharing your tale coturnix.

[MT]

Nails and such is what you call yer basic "foreign bodies." The foreign body is the meat and potatoes of the veterinary medical profession. That and the condition called "HBC" ("hit by car").

[MT]

For another inside view on the bovine gastrointestinal tract, you might look here:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Union/2867/

[MT]

Sorry: This link is better
http://spike-washburn.vpscenter.com/research/FistulatedCows/

[Anne]

MT. You are fantastic. Forget chewing cud and bring on upchucking my lunch. Good work.