Stomach Magnets

[Gorignak]

Okay... to prep for this discussion, you really need to read the prior thread on Septic Arthritis. It is pretty much a road map to tragedy.

So, let's get opinions on the use of stomach magnets. I'll just let you all have at it, but I do have some specific questions. I am now a FIRM/ABSOLUTE/UNWAVERING/ADAMANT proponent of stomach magnets. I was going to do it anyway.."just because"...it can't hurt.

But, hey....my cows aren't going to die from eating metal. Fast forward through the other thread.....OUCH, that one hurt !!

COULD I REASONABLY BE EXPECTED TO HAVE PUT A MAGNET IN THE CALF'S STOMACH AT 3.5 MONTHS OLD ??

WHAT AGE DO MOST PUT IN MAGNETS, HOW EARLY CAN IT BE DONE ??

DO ANY OF YOU USE A METAL DETECTOR TO LOOK TO SEE IF A MAGNET IS ALREADY IN PLACE IN AN OLDER COW THAT WAS PURCHASED WITHOUT A FULL HISTORY BEING AVAILABLE ??

IS IT TRUE THAT 2 MAGNETS WILL EFFECTIVELY CANCEL OUT EACH OTHER BY LINKING OPPOSITE POLES TOGETHER ??

DOES ANYBODY HAVE A MAGNET DRAG SETUP THAT THEY COMB THEIR FIELDS WITH. IT COULD BE TOWED BEHIND A 4 WHEELER TO SUCK UP ALL THE LOOSE IRON.

IS INSERTING A MAGNET RELATIVELY EASY ??

WV Dexters said they were going to get a metal detector. We have a REAL good one. It will either be the most fun you ever had with your grandkids ( kids love secrets, surprises, and treasure) or it will drive you nuts finding every pop bottle cap from the last 50 years. It is astounding how many small metal pieces have been lost in 100 years on some farms.
Our mountains are crisscrossd by what are called "dug roads". They were the original trails that the settlers used....mules, oxen, horses, wagons, and on foot, to get around. There was no maintenance equipment available. So after each rain, if you came upon a boulder or obstacle, you would stop and throw or lever it out of the "road" as best as you could. The roads became deep ditches that had large cairns of rocks on either side. They would sometimes pile them in square windbreaks, on the leeward side of a hill, in a configuration and size that you could throw a tarp over the top and spend the night relatively comfortable.
Well....these "dug roads" are a metal detector's paradise. It is astounding to see what people who had little to lose...well, lost anyway. And us, with our evolving "throwaway society" have really mucked things up.

I think some really big magnets THAT COULD BE DRAGGED AROUND, WOULD HELP A LOT. The metal just keeps migrating up each year.... I once saw one in a Govt. surplus auction...it was an electromagnet that used 24V (military vehicles are 24V ) and was about 6' wide. It was meant to be towed around an airport runway picking up any ferrous metal. I have seen modern setups with regular alnico or stronger magnets.

But the real question is the stomach magnets. I'm ordering a dozen and a balling gun unless someone warns otherwise. I DID ASK MY VET.... several months ago. His reply was that he had seen only one case of hardware disease in 30 years. He offered that since the advent of baling twine instead of wire, and the end of a lot of silage chopping, that it was very uncommon. OOOOPS.....make that 2 cases in 30 years.

I don't think I could have reasonably expected to have felt the need to put a magnet in a 3 month old calf's stomach. But, as Ross Perot so famously said, " I'm All Ears".

[legendrockranch]

Nov 10, 2013 12:23:13 GMT -5 Gorignak said:

I think some really big magnets THAT COULD BE DRAGGED AROUND, WOULD HELP A LOT. The metal just keeps migrating up each year....

Mike, we have a large magnet which is probably 2 inches thick, 4 inches wide and about 16 inches long and heavy as all get out. It is jerry-rigged with two wheels at both ends, we push it around like a lawn mover. Everytime anything new is being built I am out they for days.
When the plane crashed on our property there were major expenses with clean up crews, little bits and pieces that were covered still pop up.
When we walk through the pastures my head is always looking at the ground just waiting to pick up pieces of anything that might hurt the animals.

Barb

[dexterfarm]

use these they work best for dexters. www.jefferspet.com/alnimax-alnico-magnet/camid/LIV/cp/16094/
make sure your gun is aluminum most metal ones are.
I would not have put a magnet in one that young. They say to do it around weaning time.

[midhilldexters]

I opted not to use them. My vet said the same thing, since most hay went to sisal or baling twine hardware disease has decreased. I was careful where I bought my hay from, accidents still happen of course. I now do my own hay and we check fields as best we can, it's a pain when people throw cans and the likes out of their cars and dump garbage that gets in the baler.

Carol K

[otf]

We also have lots of old metal stuff that creeps up to the surface. We put magnets in heifers at weaning (6-7 months) and use the magnets that dexterfarm suggests because they are a little smaller than those rectangular ones. Get a good metal balling gun that will hold up and clean it well before using; the plastic ones get chewed all to bits. If the cow is in a headgate, it isn't too difficult to get the magnet in, but watch to be certain she doesn't spit it out (they are good at that).

The vet uses a compass to see if the magnet is still in place. Don't use two magnets.

Had one case of hardware some years back; cow was lethargic, lying down a lot, milk dried up (1 month old calf at side). After a shot of penicillin and a magnet, she was back to normal within 24 hours, which was a very good thing because trying to get a 1 month old calf to accept a bottle is about hopeless.

And, for what it's worth, I dip the calves' navels at birth, using Tincture of Iodine, 7% (I use one of those plastic cups that comes with laundry detergent -- it works very well and I don't get bathed in Iodine). I dip the bull calves a couple of times.

[lakeportfarms]

www.harborfreight.com/30-inch-magnetic-sweeper-with-wheels-93245.html

I use this around any areas that may have metal, and especially while we're dismantling the field fencing and replacing it with the hi-tensile. Those stupid clips that go around the t-posts are very easy to use in the tall grass.

We don't have much of a problem with metal in the orchard, but for many years we keep finding plastic combs popping up. Sheril finally figured it out...back in the 70's a plastic comb in the back pocket was a frequent accessory among teens, at least here in Michigan. Since the orchard was U-pick the combs must have fallen out of their pockets as they reached up or were running around the orchard picking the apples in the fall.