Ask A Scientist© Veterinary Topics Archive

name         Duncan M.
status       student
age          14

Question -   Why are cow magnets used?  What happens once the cow has swallowed the magnet?
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Great question!

Everyone thinks of the great scene of cows out grazing in a beautiful pasture.  Cows eat grass 
and have a really amazing multicompartmental stomach that allows them to be productive on this 
food source.  The bottom front part of this stomach lies against the diaphragm and the heart.

Unfortunately, sometimes these beautiful pastures, or the barns where cows also live, can have 
old pieces of wire fences, nails, bits of discarded cans, etc.

In her grazing, a cow might accidently ingest a piece of metal.  This drops to the bottom front 
of her stomach.  Through all the powerful churning of her digestive system as the grass is 
digested, these pieces of metal can work themselves through the wall of the stomach and into 
her lungs or heart.  Leaking digestive juices can cause infections that can be fatal to the 
cow.

But for scores of years, veterinarians and farmers have known that if you have a cow swallow a 
large smooth magnet, the magnet will also fall to the bottom front of her stomach.  It will 
remain here, often for years, and attract the pieces of metal so that they do not penetrate 
the stomach wall.  It is not foolproof, so it is also important to make sure that there is 
not a lot of metal lying around.  But having seen old magnets taken from cows that died of 
other things, there is sometimes an amazing number of dangerous looking metal objects trapped 
on the magnet.

Laura Hungerford, DVM, MPH, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine
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