Dutch farmers use magnets for safe feeding of cows

Veterinarian, researcher and trainer on cows' signals Joep Driessen told about their kind of life-hiking. He published a photo of "finds" in feed mixers - wires, nails, debris of parts, etc.

"I think it will be interesting for many cattle breeders. This is what I found in the mixer on the farm using two magnets. To buy them,  I spent only £ 600 - this is a good investment in the health of cows on this farm," says Joep Driessen.

Cows eat quickly and are able to eat hard objects by accident. So, sometimes they swallow pieces of metal wire, nails, glass shards - veterinarians call it a hardware disease. Foreign objects then appear on the bottom of the stomach of the animal, can break through the mesh and cause an abscess. Cows suffering from hardware disease look sick. They have loss of appetite, long fibers of undigested fiber in the stool, low productivity, weight loss, reduced tripe activity and abdominal pain (the cow moans).

Therefore, it is very important to prevent hardware disease:

- Avoid metal objects falling into animal feed;

- It is best to place the magnet on the belt of the combine and mixer;

- When integrating into a herd of heifers, it is necessary to introduce magnets to them and to check whether they are in place when the compass is started.