A Trivia Question

                             A Trivia Question

   What does E. Carl Kiekhaefer, founder of Mercury Marine, the most recognized          name in the marine industry in the world and a large animal veterinarian, have in common?

                                                                     

                               Hardware Disease in Cattle!

    In 1920, Carl thought his mechanical ability with magnetic equipment would guarantee  his future.  During the Great Depression he started building magnetic clutches and brakes.  He believed that manufacturing magnetic separators was a successful way to develop a profitable business.  While magnetic separators preform many tasks, one of the most popular uses was plucking out bolts, nails, pieces of bailing wire and other debris from animal feed.  Cattle frequently died from ingesting these items.  These pieces of metal can cause granary  explosions caused by stray medal giving off a spark in the fine-dust atmosphere. 

   Living in Cedarburg, WI, Carl was looking for a plant to build his business.  The Cedarburg Manufacturing Company was up for sale, which had an inventory of 500 single-cylinder outboard engines built for Montgomery Ward.  The company had given up producing their failing outboard boat engines.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

A product of Mercury Marine today:

The rest is history.

                       What is Hardware Disease?

     This diagram shows the four stomachs of the cow.

As the cow “scoops” up her feed, swallows and later chews it’s “cud.”  If foreign items, such as nails or broken pieces of barbwire are in this feed, it is taken into the first stomach, the reticulum.  Some of these pieces of metal can pierce the lining of the reticulum, causing pain.  The cow stops eating.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

                                   Modern cattle metal detector      

                 The veterinarian’s examination includes the use of a metal detector.

                                                                                      

          

         

      Shown here are samples of nails, staples and pieces of metal that have been found 
in a cow’s stomach.                                                                                         

                                                     Rumen magnet

     Treatment for this condition will include giving a rumen magnet into the reticulum.

                                                                                        

Frick speculum

    With the use of an aluminum Frick speculum, sliding the magnet through goes easily over the cow’s tongue and into the first stomach.  This rumen magnet stays inside the cow for the rest of the cow’s life.    

                                                                        

  Early versions of the Veterinary Metal Detectors were made in Germany.  Pictured here is one of those early models.      

                                      

                                                         Photo courtesy: David Schmitt, DVM

                                                        Photo courtesy: David Schmitt, DVM

                                                       Photo courtesy: David Schmitt, DVM