Because cows don’t discriminate when it comes to their food, they often eat pieces of metal with their feed or when grazing. The metal makes its way to the cow’s reticulum (second stomach). There, it can puncture the stomach wall, developing into an infection or damaging other organs. This is referred to as "hardware disease." Decades ago, the primary culprit of hardware disease was bailing wire. While bailing wire is no longer used, metal still finds its way into feed in the form of roofing nails, bits of fencing wire, and other metal “junk" that gets chopped up in balers and feed choppers. Other sources of contamination come from blades and other parts of machinery wearing out and falling into choppers. Additionally, allowing grazing in areas typically prone to litter or junk can lead to ingestion of metal. So, what are farmers to do? The remedy is simple: Cow magnets are fed to calves after they’re a year old, and because they can’t be passed, they need only to be administered once in the cow’s lifetime. The magnets attract all forms of metal, drawing them away from the reticulum. The magnets save farmers the added expenses of veterinary bills, loss of milk output, decreased breeding opportunities, and potential death of livestock.
