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From: jones@pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu (Douglas W. Jones,201H MLH,3193350740,3193382879)
Newsgroups: sci.physics,sci.bio
Subject: Re: cow magnets
Message-ID: <3866@ns-mx.uiowa.edu>
Date: 10 Jan 91 22:27:32 GMT
References: <1991Jan10.210958.14351@xn.ll.mit.edu>
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From article <1991Jan10.210958.14351@xn.ll.mit.edu>, by rp@jupiter.ll.mit.edu (Richard Pavelle):
> 
> A recent Edmund Scientific catalog (#11N1), Page 149, lists
> Cow Magnets. These magnets.. "allow farmers to trap metal in the 
> stomach of cows". Can someone explain why/how these are used?

Cows get something called "the sharps" or "hardware disease" from eating
things like nails, bits of wire, and the like along with the grass they're
supposed to be eating.  Before trying drastic measures like surgery,
farmers frequently try feeding their cow a magnet, to be specific, a cow
magnet.  These are small enough for a cow to swallow and pass
on through their system, with no sharp edges.  The idea is that, as the
magnet passes through the cow's system, it grabs onto the sharp objects
the cow has swallowed, holding the sharp objects flat and safe against
the magnet.  It's a lot cheaper than calling the vet.

Of course, back during the Oil Embargo of 73, various people concluded
that if you tape a cow magnet to the gas line of your car, it would do
magic things to the gasoline and give you 99 miles per gallon or
something.  There was a similar scam only a few months ago, with ads
for magnets in many newspapers around the country.  They said that the
magnets aligned the molecules of gasoline so that they'd vaporize
better in your carburator or fuel injectors.

				Doug Jones
				jones@herky.cs.uiowa.edu