rp@jupiter.ll.mit.edu (Richard Pavelle) (01/11/91)
A recent Edmund Scientific catalog (#11N1), Page 149, lists Cow Magnets. These magnets.. "allow farmers to trap metal in the stomach of cows". Can someone explain why/how these are used? -- Richard Pavelle UUCP: ...ll-xn!rp
jones@pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu (Douglas W. Jones,201H MLH,3193350740,3193382879) (01/11/91)
From article <1991Jan10.210958.14351@xn.ll.mit.edu>, by rp@jupiter.ll.mit.edu (Richard Pavelle): > > A recent Edmund Scientific catalog (#11N1), Page 149, lists > Cow Magnets. These magnets.. "allow farmers to trap metal in the > stomach of cows". Can someone explain why/how these are used? Cows get something called "the sharps" or "hardware disease" from eating things like nails, bits of wire, and the like along with the grass they're supposed to be eating. Before trying drastic measures like surgery, farmers frequently try feeding their cow a magnet, to be specific, a cow magnet. These are small enough for a cow to swallow and pass on through their system, with no sharp edges. The idea is that, as the magnet passes through the cow's system, it grabs onto the sharp objects the cow has swallowed, holding the sharp objects flat and safe against the magnet. It's a lot cheaper than calling the vet. Of course, back during the Oil Embargo of 73, various people concluded that if you tape a cow magnet to the gas line of your car, it would do magic things to the gasoline and give you 99 miles per gallon or something. There was a similar scam only a few months ago, with ads for magnets in many newspapers around the country. They said that the magnets aligned the molecules of gasoline so that they'd vaporize better in your carburator or fuel injectors. Doug Jones jones@herky.cs.uiowa.edu
hall@vice.ICO.TEK.COM (Hal Lillywhite) (01/11/91)
In article <1991Jan10.210958.14351@xn.ll.mit.edu> rp@jupiter.ll.mit.edu (Richard Pavelle) writes: > >A recent Edmund Scientific catalog (#11N1), Page 149, lists >Cow Magnets. These magnets.. "allow farmers to trap metal in the >stomach of cows". Can someone explain why/how these are used? Yes, I was raised on a dairy farm and remember when these first came out and what a difference they made. The problem is that a cow's taste is not very discriminating, they will eat *anything* which happens to be in their feed. This includes barbed wire, baling wire, and lots of other things which damage their innards. We used to regularly have the vet out to do a rumenotomy on some cow (rumenotomy is the operation to remove the offending whatever). With modern farming cows are exposed to a lot more of this than a ruminent in nature would be. This ailment is called hardware disease. The idea of these magnets is that the wire (the usual offender) attaches to the magnet and is held parallel to it so it can't puncture the stomach lining. It works very well. I only remember one case of hardware disease after we started using them. I watched that operation and the problem was a piece of barbed wire about an inch longer than the magnet. As long as the magnet is longer than the wire they are very effective. As long as we're on the subject the following told to me by a vet is good for entertainment. Colorado State University once decided that for a Christmas program they would invite each college to demonstrate something they did. All went well until it came the turn of the College of Veterinary Medicine. Then some students hauled a cow out on stage and proceded to perform the above mentioned operation (which involves cutting into the cow's stomach). There were 2 results: 1. The immediate, almost total evcuation of the auditorium. 2. One certain college was not invited to participate the next year.
jtchew@csa2.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW) (01/11/91)
>A recent Edmund Scientific catalog (#11N1), Page 149, lists >Cow Magnets. These magnets.. "allow farmers to trap metal in the >stomach of cows". Can someone explain why/how these are used? Cows are none too bright (cf. Larry Niven, "How much intelligence do you have to evolve to sneak up on grass?) and will ingest things that aren't at all good for them, such as whatever bits of baling wire, barbed wire, and small hardware happen to be sitting in their feed. The cow magnet sits in one of the cow's stomachs, I believe, where it intercepts these items before they can get into the intestines and cause the never-get-overs. A few years ago, there was a widespread rumor that putting a cow magnet near your carburetor would exert some kind of magic that increased gas mileage. Most of us would dismiss this immediately as another substance associated with cattle, but enough people believed it to cause a temporary glitch in the availability of cow magnets, much to the irritation of farmers. --Joe "Just another personal opinion from the People's Republic of Berkeley"
minsky@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Marvin Minsky) (01/11/91)
In article <1991Jan10.210958.14351@xn.ll.mit.edu> rp@jupiter.ll.mit.edu (Richard Pavelle) writes: > >A recent Edmund Scientific catalog (#11N1), Page 149, lists >Cow Magnets. These magnets.. "allow farmers to trap metal in the >stomach of cows". Can someone explain why/how these are used? To catch bits of iron -- nails, etc., and give them time to be digested before passing further and damaging the cow. The ruminant has several digestion chambers. I think the magnet is largish and plastic-coated, and stays in. I don't know how you get the cow to swallow it.
bagwill@swe.ncsl.nist.gov (Bob Bagwill) (01/12/91)
Don't you just hate it when a whole field full of cows with cow magnets are facing the same way, and they pull your tractor in to the ditch :-? -- Bob Bagwill NIST Software Engineering Group/NCSL Technology Bldg, Room B266 bagwill@swe.ncsl.nist.gov Gaithersburg, MD 20899 voice (301)975-3282 fax (301)590-0932