No, Not Silver Bullets

These are not silver bullets. Nor are the radioactive things that Homer Simpson removes from his shirt and tosses out the car window.

In my on-going attempt to shine a light for city folks to see and learn about country ways, I present yet another agricultural topic.

The photo above is of cow magnets, and I know that it sounds like I’m pulling your collective legs hers, but this is a device that beef and dairy farmers use. Each cow gets one shoved down its throat where it settles in the rumen or reticulum and remains their throughout the animal’s life because they cannot be passed through a cow's 4th bonivial meta-colon.

When the cow grazes, it often consumes and swallows bits of metal like barbed wire, staples, nails and general trash. These objects are indigestible and often sharp and may lodge somewhere or at least cause inflammation resulting in what is known as hardware disease, which manifests as lower weight gain and poor milk production.

The cow magnet attracts and holds onto metal objects in the cows stomach and prevents them from becoming lodged in the animal's tissue. Also, these can be recovered during rendering and then given to another cow to use through its life time.