HOW CAN A MAGNET IMPROVE YOUR HERD’S HEALTH? Mixer Magnets Catch Tramp Metal in Feed
Traumatic Reticuloperitonitis. What is it?
What is Traumatic Reticuloperitonitis? It’s a fancy name for ‘hardware disease’. Hardware disease is caused when cows ingest nails, wire, and other metal objects that are hidden in feed. Cattle do not thoroughly chew their food. They chew their feed just enough to coat it with saliva, making it easier for the both their food and metal to get swallowed. Due to the weight of the ingested metal, the items drop into the lowest compartment of the cow’s stomach, or reticulum. Common muscle spasms occur during the digestion process. This movement can shift these foreign objects and cause the metal to irritate, pierce, or puncture the reticulum wall. If the stomach lining is compromised, it can result in:
- Local infection
- Fluid leakage from the reticulum causing peritonitis. Peritonitis is an infection that is usually caused from bacteria or fungi.
- Puncture of the sac around the heart. Anatomically, the reticulum is close to the cow’s heart.
According to a study conducted in the Eastern US, 55 – 75% of cattle slaughtered had some form of hardware in their system. Symptoms of hardware disease can include:
- Decreased milk production
- Arched back
- Mild fever
- Stomach issues
- Signs of abdominal pain
- Loss of or poor appetite
- Undigested food in manure
- Death, in severe cases
With decreased milk production being a symptom of hardware disease, Even a minor case can affect your bottom line. The best method to stop it? Prevention.
What can you do to minimize hardware disease?
Random pieces of metal can enter feed at multiple points: processing, shipping, storage, etc. Two ways to minimize metal getting into your herd’s feed are: practicing good housekeeping and using mixer magnets.
No matter how diligent you are, good housekeeping cannot catch everything. Metal can get buried deep within feed or metal objects can become airborne on a windy day. For another layer of prevention, add a magnet to your feed mixer. As the feed mixes and passes the magnet, any tramp metal that has found its way into the feed gets captured by the magnet. The material stays secured on the magnet throughout the mixing process allowing clean feed to get discharged and fed to the herd.
Mixer magnets vary by manufacturer and are typically an optional feature. Patz offers a patented tub-mounted magnet that is unique to the industry. It features a two-step retention design that allows feed to flow unrestricted while mixing. Feed travels over the slope of each step on the magnet, while metallic items drop into the step corner. Materials stay secured to the magnet throughout the entire mixing process. With the strongest pull radius in the industry, the Patz magnet pulls tramp metal out of TMR ingredients while being mixed.
Keep your herd healthy. Take action to eliminate ‘hardware disease’ within your herd. In addition to good housekeeping, add a magnet to your feed mixer. The magnet catches metal objects in the feed that otherwise would be ingested and potentially cause ‘hardware disease’. Protect what matters.
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For More Information:
– YouTube Video: Patz Tub Mounted Magnet Captures Tramp Metal
