Several years ago, our cattle were grazing in a leased pasture in Gilmanton when the farm owner decided to replace the barn roof. The old shingles and nails came off the roof and landed right in the pasture. He cleaned up afterward, but a stray nail or two may have slipped through.
Stepping on a nail is bad, but the bigger worry is that a curious cow might eat one. Cattle aren’t picky chewers. They sweep up grass like a vacuum cleaner, and whatever’s mixed in goes down the hatch. The result is something called “hardware disease,” and it’s exactly as unpleasant as it sounds. A nail or wire piercing one of the cow’s four stomach chambers can cause infection or worse.
Several years ago, I lost a calf, and I’ve always suspected she swallowed metal. Without an autopsy, I’ll never know for sure. But the signs of hardware disease are hard to miss: The cow arches her back and moves like every step hurts. If it’s a dairy cow, milk production decreases.
The cure is reassuringly low-tech. A magnet. A real one. The special “cow magnet,” which looks like a smooth metal pill, is delivered down the throat with a tool called a “balling gun,” which sounds far more dramatic than it is. The magnet settles into her stomach and grabs every bit of stray metal she happens to ingest, holding it safely in place so it can’t go wandering through her insides, causing trouble. One magnet works for the life of the cow, and if she’s eventually processed for beef, the magnet can be recovered and reused. Frugal and practical.
We fenced off the suspicious area of that remote pasture, checked hooves for nails, and when the herd came home, every bovine got a magnet. The magnets don’t interfere with their digestion and may even save a life. You can visit the Miles Smith Farm herd by scheduling time to meet my magnetic cows.
Carole Soule is co-owner of Miles Smith Farm (www.milessmithfarm.com), where she coaches cows to be their best selves. She can be reached at carole@soulecoaching.com.