What am I doing wrong?

[TCRanch]

Anybody ever use a compass to determine whether a cow already has a magnet?

All my retained heifers get a magnet when they get their BANGS and pelvic measured. Except one of them spit it out - found it about 10 ft. from the chute last winter. My vet said he's never tried it but should be able to tell by holding a compass over the reticulum. We worked cattle last weekend and I tried it on all the heifers but the compass only picked up the magnet in one and I know they didn't all spit 'em out (either that or my vet sucks with a balling gun - unlikely).

Is there technique I obviously haven't mastered? Or maybe contingent on the cows body composition/condition? The aforementioned heifer is very tall, long and I'd guess a body score of 5 (with an impressive 232 pelvic measurement!) and the other heifers are more short & deep.

Anything else I can try other than cross my fingers and hope she never gets hardware?

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Is hardware that big of an issue that you need to mag every cow?
Personally I've only had one cow with hardware disease in 20 years. The magnet fixed it after the fact.

 

[SBMF 2015]

I had never heard of using a compass before. Interesting. Makes sense.
I do the same thing. Pelv measure, freeze brand, first rnd pre breeding vaccinations, magnet.
That is a very impressive Pelv measurement!

 

[SBMF 2015]

Is hardware that big of an issue that you need to mag every cow?
Personally I've only had one cow with hardware disease in 20 years. The magnet fixed it after the fact.

A friend of mine had a home raised 6yr old cow just die out of the blue. He had his vet post her. While they were posting the cow he asked the vet to find the magnet that she had been given as a hfr. They cut it out, and it was between a baseball and softball size with all kinds of metal stuff.
When you stop and think about all the metal equipment we all use to gather, store, and feed cattle. It's no wonder they have problems sometimes. Magnets are cheap ins. Especially if you run cows on rented pasture.

 

[TCRanch]

Is hardware that big of an issue that you need to mag every cow?
Personally I've only had one cow with hardware disease in 20 years. The magnet fixed it after the fact.

Unfortunately, yes. We've lost 6 cows to hardware. Some were the original cows we purchased. Were they fed silage with metal shavings? Dunno. But we've also been hit twice by tornadoes with debris thrown for miles - it simply is not possible to pick it all up. Previous owners of the ranch left old barbed wire in the pastures & they used staples to secure it to hedge posts - there's just metal everywhere. Started giving every cow, retained heifer & bull a magnet probably 7 years ago but still lost another one. "Hardware" is subjective; can also be caused by a shard of glass (people throwing beer bottles out their window), sharp rocks, honey locust thorns, etc. That said, in my world it's an inexpensive preventive measure.

 

[TCRanch]

I had never heard of using a compass before. Interesting. Makes sense.
I do the same thing. Pelv measure, freeze brand, first rnd pre breeding vaccinations, magnet.
That is a very impressive Pelv measurement!

Baby's got back!! She's number 727 so I named her Boeing. Vet said I should change it to 737 Max. ;-) Overall average this year was 181.05.

 

[TCRanch]

Is hardware that big of an issue that you need to mag every cow?
Personally I've only had one cow with hardware disease in 20 years. The magnet fixed it after the fact.

A friend of mine had a home raised 6yr old cow just die out of the blue. He had his vet post her. While they were posting the cow he asked the vet to find the magnet that she had been given as a hfr. They cut it out, and it was between a baseball and softball size with all kinds of metal stuff.
When you stop and think about all the metal equipment we all use to gather, store, and feed cattle. It's no wonder they have problems sometimes. Magnets are cheap ins. Especially if you run cows on rented pasture.

Pic of a magnet I saw on Facebook:

 

[Kingfisher]

Can't you when in doubt just put another magnet in her?
Will an imaging wand detect a magnet?

 

[wbvs58]

TC, for a start make sure when you use the compass that the cow is not standing north of it. 90 degrees of north would give max deflection.

Ken

 

[Dave]

TC, for a start make sure when you use the compass that the cow is not standing north of it. 90 degrees of north would give max deflection.

Ken

Is that magnetic north or true north? There is a difference.

 

[wbvs58]

TC, for a start make sure when you use the compass that the cow is not standing north of it. 90 degrees of north would give max deflection.

Ken

Is that magnetic north or true north? There is a difference.

Yes Dave, where I am the variation is about 10 degrees East so I don't think that would be a deal breaker for the application that TC wants. If navigating it certainly needs to be allowed for. "Variation East, compass least". The variation may be a lot more in your neck of the woods but I still doubt that it would greatly affect this application. In any case if you were to just be guided by the direction of the compass arrow. Make sure a magnetic compass is used and not one based on GPS as in a phone.

Ken

 

[TCRanch]

Can't you when in doubt just put another magnet in her?
Will an imaging wand detect a magnet?

Two magnets repel. Not sure if that would defeat the purpose. Interesting thought on the imaging wand - have no idea if that would work. Hmmmm.

 

[TCRanch]

TC, for a start make sure when you use the compass that the cow is not standing north of it. 90 degrees of north would give max deflection.

Ken

Is that magnetic north or true north? There is a difference.

Yes Dave, where I am the variation is about 10 degrees East so I don't think that would be a deal breaker for the application that TC wants. If navigating it certainly needs to be allowed for. "Variation East, compass least". The variation may be a lot more in your neck of the woods but I still doubt that it would greatly affect this application. In any case if you were to just be guided by the direction of the compass arrow. Make sure a magnetic compass is used and not one based on GPS as in a phone.

Ken

The chute/heifers were facing south. The only time it worked I was east/on her left side facing southwest (in case I got kicked I'd take the hit on my right butt cheek).

 

[Dsth]

I was taught a little trick when I worked in the auto repair business for a while. You can use a CHEAP compass to find electrical problems in wiring harnesses. The best results would be with the cheapest compass that you can find, so if you are using a good quality compass, you may want to try a very cheap one. they are more likely to be drawn away from true north.

 

[TCRanch]

I was taught a little trick when I worked in the auto repair business for a while. You can use a CHEAP compass to find electrical problems in wiring harnesses. The best results would be with the cheapest compass that you can find, so if you are using a good quality compass, you may want to try a very cheap one. they are more likely to be drawn away from true north.

Walmart, in the camping section, $4.99. But good to know because I was concerned it was so cheap it wouldn't be accurate.

 

[ccr]

If the cow is in a metal chute while you are using the compass, might not work out to good.

Can you get a metal detector and check her outside of the chute?

 

[TCRanch]

If the cow is in a metal chute while you are using the compass, might not work out to good.

Can you get a metal detector and check her outside of the chute?

Good point. And I do have a metal detector - definitely worth a try. Thanks for the tip!

 

[cjmc]

Replace your current mixer wagon spout with one that has magnets on it. If yours already has one make sure you clean it every day. Easy way to reduce hardware. When I was working at a commercial feedyard after each day the spout would have collected about as much metal as shown in the above picture from Facebook.

 

[TCRanch]

No go on the metal detector. They're pretty chill; hand feeders, like to be scratched, can walk through and spray for flies but that freaked them out. Look at 'em run!!

We don't make our own cubes - no mixer wagon. I'm assuming the CoOp does have magnets on theirs.

 

[JMJ Farms]

No go on the metal detector. They're pretty chill; hand feeders, like to be scratched, can walk through and spray for flies but that freaked them out. Look at 'em run!!

We don't make our own cubes - no mixer wagon. I'm assuming the CoOp does have magnets on theirs.

Come on K! Just rope em and tie em to a post then check em :hide: :lol2: