Magnets for all?

tab · #1 04/27/14, 08:55 AM

Awhile ago I asked the vet about a magnet for my cow. She really did not seem to think it was needed. My cow is fed my hay and is in clean pasture. Not to say that things cannot be buried in the soil from long ago. Also, stuff can come in the bedding. Maybe I am thinking wrong but, magnets don't seem to hurt and can save a life from that little piece of stray wire, right??? Do you routinely give cows magnets? How hard is it to give one? I can scratch my cow's chin and she acts like she is really enjoying life, I don't *think* this would be too difficult to do. Not sure why the vet was so hesitant.

Wanda · #2 04/27/14, 09:48 AM

Did you ever try to give a pill to a cat? It's very simple and straightforward because the cat is tame!

tab · #3 04/27/14, 10:06 AM

Actually I have pilled dozens of cats, some easy and some not so much. I guess ease of installation isn't my main concern here.

dcross · #4 04/27/14, 10:52 AM

An ounce of prevention...

mrs whodunit · #5 04/27/14, 10:55 AM

Cows like to lick strange stuff LOL

CIW · #6 04/27/14, 12:32 PM

I've seen these magnets on the ground where my cows rest. Don't know which end it came out of.
If you do need to put one down thier throat, we give them using a bolus gun while she is standing in the chute.
The other thing is that the magnet is to stop her from declining long enough to cull the animal. A cow doesn't perform well, long term, once they have hardware disease.

Alaska · #7 04/28/14, 07:45 PM

Shoot we have bits and pieces all over our place from a tornado back in '99
What signs should I watch for?

G. Seddon · #8 04/28/14, 07:58 PM

Once I had a cow with a 1-mo. old calf come down with hardware disease. She stopped eating; I found her lying down in the field, very lethargic and sluggish. Vet came, suggested a shot of penicillin and a magnet (but he didn't have either on his truck!!!). I went and got both, got the cow in a stall (luckily she was halter broken) and gave her the shot and somehow got the magnet down her throat (with a cheap plastic balling gun).

Cow's milk had completely disappeared by this point in time. I tried to bottle feed the calf but was unable to. After 24 hours, thank God, the cow was 100% better, able to eat and nurse her calf. Scary experience for me though!

Ever since then, I give our heifers a magnet at weaning time. Our farm has lots of old stuff that creeps up through the soil.

solsikkefarms · #9 04/28/14, 08:26 PM

yep, I have always used magnets, just as my grandfather did. Never really had a problem getting it down any of the animals. Maybe I've just been lucky.

okiemom · #10 04/30/14, 09:07 AM

good grief. I had heard about hardware disease but thought it was just a "all creatures great and small" dramatic episode. Are we really to give our cows magnets? what are the symptoms of hardware disease? how often to give them?

G. Seddon · #11 04/30/14, 09:28 AM

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-...257211511.html

http://extension.missouri.edu/p/G7700

http://www.caf.wvu.edu/~forage/hwaredis/hwaredis.htm

tab · #12 05/02/14, 02:46 PM

Thanks for all the good info. It was what I was thinking, prevention is easy, curing isn't. I had not heard of drawbacks to magnets either.

My cow is due to get her feet done soon. That would probably be a good time to pop the magnet down. Although as I said, she is very tame, not like a cow that gets handled a couple times a year. She gets scratches on a daily basis. I did not think about the magnets being given when young, that makes great sense and would assure a bit more ease to the job.

Stuff can work its way out of the soil, come in the bedding or even something off the baler or trash thrown out of cars that winds up in the hay. Lots of ways for a cow to find trash.....

Seth · #13 05/08/14, 08:09 PM

Cows have survived for centuries. Without magnets.