Rumen Magnet

[alisonb]

Have been treating a cow for suspected hardware disease for the last couple of weeks. Administered anti inflam, antibiotic and rumen magnet when she showed signs of infection. On Thursday(two weeks after meds) she was riding another cow that was on heat and now seems to have relapsed.

My questions are - How successful is the magnet once hardware disease is diagnosed? Should I be hopeful and give her a second magnet and meds again or cull her? How many of you insert a second magnet? Surgery may be an option but have to do my sums first.

PS - her brisket is not 'watery' and her heart sounds fine, It would seem that it is more of an irritation to the vagus nerve as she is slightly bloated on top left and droopy on bottom right.

 

[dun]

Let the drugs clear then ship her. Unless she lost the magnet (very doubtful) a second one isn;t going to do anything.
Concerning hardware, when we fed wire tied bales we gave everything a magnet and never had an issue. Even recovered the magnets after butcher of a some steers and reused them.

 

[redcowsrule33]

They only help if they can get the offending metal to stick to them. If it has already penetrated, it won't do much good. I have always been told 2 magnets is actually detrimental as the wires might stick out from them rather than lay flat. My guess is she had walled off the wire until she put pressure on the area riding the other cow. Just as many hardware cows die from peritonitis as heart failure.

 

[Alan]

My uncle fed his dairy herd three tine wire bales, as dun said everything got a magnet. I never knew of a problem he had.

On the other hand I have dealt with one case of hardware disease, she went steadily down hill. I shipped her when I knew she would not recover and before she was skin and bones.

 

[KNERSIE]

Sounds more like a plastic bag or baling twine to me.

 

[Alan]

I only suspect my case was hardware disease, I never really knew. She had a pretty rapid case of weight loss and developed a roach (arched) back. Here's a link that might help you decide if it's hardware.

http://www.probioticsmart.com/blog/hard ... reatments/

 

[Lucky_P]

No need to ever give a second magnet. May actually diminish the effectiveness of both - or, at least, I've seen that claim. At any rate, I can't imagine that 2 will do any better than one.
A rumen (actually, reticulum) magnet will 'stay put' and should be effective for longer than the life of the cow. I retrieve 'em from cows - at necropsy - from time to time - and have 're-used' some on my own cattle.
They're quite effective if you get them in before the wire/nail, etc. has penetrated into the pericardial sac. Cow may be remarkably better within a fairly short time, but if it is a case of hardware disease, it's going to take a while for the stomach acids to dissolve the offending piece of metal - activity like mounting other cows in heat may aggravate the situation, even though the magnet may have stopped further migration of the wire/nail.

I see many cattle at necropsy (cause of death NOT hardware disease) that have evidence of previous bouts of hardware penetration resulting in localized peritonitis, with formation of extensive fibrous adhesions between the reticulum and diaphragm and liver. Usually just an incidental finding, though occasionally, contraction of scar tissue can entrap branches of the vagus nerve, causing 'vagus indigestion'.
I've rarely (maybe on two occasions in 30 years) seen cows that died of peritonitis secondary to hardware penetration - biggest concern is if the wire/nail migrates through the diaphragm into the pericardial sac, setting up pericarditis, which results in the cow laying down a thick layer of scar tissue over the heart, preventing its ability to expand/contract properly, ultimately resulting in congestive heart failure.
Saw a 15 yr old bull last week that had a piece of wire, about 5 inches long, that had punctured a blood vessel in the forestomach wall between reticulum and rumen, resulting in the bull bleeding out into its rumen - had about a 5-gallon bloodclot mixed in with all the grass/hay he'd been eating.

 

[hillsdown]

My cow with hardware that I almost lost a few months ago showed significant improvement the day after I gave her the magnet as she had been completely off food and water . She did however abort her 6 month old fetus 3 weeks after the magnet was given , knew she could not sustain herself and a faily late term calf in her condition so was not that surprised when she did . She has had 2 heats since and is very healthy otherwise almost to her dry cow weight again.

When doing research about magnets as I had not seen a case on almost 15 years ,I read that you are to administer another magnet if the symptoms reoccur after progress has been made from inserting the original(1st) magnet . Have heard so many conflicting things about it hindering vrs helping that who the heck knows anymore , but at this point I would say that it cannot hurt her , and if you need to cull it may buy you some time for withdrawal from the meds so you can ship.

Good luck with her Alison ,hopefully she recovers .

 

[Roadapple]

Lucky P.. What do you call a fairly remarkably short time? I've been told it takes approx. 3 to 4 days to see any improvement, but in my own (amatuerish experience) I've had at least 3 cows , who flat would'nt eat at all. treated with a magnet and walk out of the chute and walk right up to the feeder an start eating. When I told my neighbor what the result was, he said I was full of ..it if I thought it was the magnet resulting in that quick of a response. Now do I need to head for the bathroom real fast or could that have happened?

 

[alisonb]

Thanks all for your replies.

This morning the cow was walking around like nothing was amiss, ate her ration and thereafter got stuck into the green fodder :shock: . The vet came out at about lunch time, checked her breathing which was a little fast, checked her rumen contractions - about 4/minute which is normal, feces also normal. Found that she was slightly anemic.

He is of the opinion that she is recovering from Anaplasmosis, it may have been that hardware was the initial complication and Anaplasmosis a secondary infection, we will never really know. Perhaps there never was a 'wire' or perhaps if there was, the magnet helped. What is important is that she seems to be on the mend

 

[Nite Hawk]

some metals are not magnetic, which can cause problems as they won't stick to magnet...

 

[alisonb]

Culled - 19 April 2013 - hardware disease. Sometime you just know what the diagnosis is but still stay hopeful and try....it sure costs a penny

 

[Double R Ranch]

I have been told to find out if a cow already has a magnet, hold a magnetic compass near the left elbow. If there's a magnet north will always be towards the cow no matter what.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

I have been told to find out if a cow already has a magnet, hold a magnetic compass near the left elbow. If there's a magnet north will always be towards the cow no matter what.

That's how we did it when i worked on the dairy. Every cow got checked yearly.

Sorry for your loss Alison