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Old 06-09-2018, 11:02 AM
luke strawwalker's Avatar
luke strawwalker luke strawwalker is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Needville and Shiner, TX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ghrocketman
Hardware Disease ?!?!
Somehow this reminds me of the episode of M*A*S*H where Cpl. Max Klinger attempts to EAT a JEEP in one of his Section 8 attempts.


Cattle are ruminants, meaning they have a four-chambered stomach (somewhat mistakenly referred to as having "four stomachs" but that's inaccurate). Cows (and other ruminants) eat grass, which is mostly indigestible (to non-ruminant animals like horses, pigs, and humans) due to the cellulose in the cell walls of the plant, but ruminants get around this by using bacteria to break down the cellulose so they can digest the contents of the cells. Because grass isn't terribly nutritious anyway and SO indigestible, they eat massive quantities of it... so basically they eat anything in front of them, and eating so close to the ground they tend to pick up anything laying in/on the grass and eat it as well.

The grass they eat is chewed and swallowed, and goes first to the rumen, the first and largest chamber of the stomach. There it basically ferments in the presence of the rumen bacteria that help break down the cell walls. After a couple hours, the cattle go lay down, usually in the shade, and "chew their cud" by essentially vomiting up balls of this fermented grass back up into their mouths, chewing it a second time, and then reswallowing it... this is called "ruminating" or "rumination" (and is the source of the word, when we sit and "chew on a problem" or "ruminate" about it). Once reswallowed, the rechewed material bypasses the rumen, goes over a small pouch-like compartment called the reticulum, which is also called the "hardware sack"... if the cattle have eaten any small bits of metal or wire or stone or anything else that is indigestible, it is usually trapped in the reticulum (sort of like our appendix). The chewed material then goes into the omasum, the third compartment of the stomach, where stomach acids and stuff are introduced, and the grass then starts to break down further. Then later it passes into the abomasum, the fourth and last compartment of the cow's stomach that helps finish digestion and passes the grass then into the small intestine...

The thing is, if cattle get too much wire, fence staples, or other metallic debris caught in the reticulum, it can cause "hardware disease" where they get sick and don't eat and either lose a lot of weight and do poorly or outright die. It's sort of like appendicitis in humans. To save the cow, you have to make them swallow a bolus magnet (think of something the shape of a Tylenol capsule about 3-4 inches long) connected to a string-- this then makes its way to the reticulum, and the magnet attracts all the metal bits that stick to it, and then you pull the magnet back up out of the stomach by the string, with the metal bits still stuck to it, thereby removing them from the cow's reticulum and allowing them to recover (hopefully).

Of course the fine, thin, SHARP ignitor wire on Estes ignitors is also quite capable of sticking in the cows lips, mouth, tongue, or esophagus, so it's best if the stuff isn't left laying there willy-nilly anyway... I'm not sure if the stuff is stainless steel or not, but it's fine enough and sharp enough to cause problems for any animals that might happen to eat it while grazing (including sheep or other grazing animals). SO it's best to avoid the problem than try to treat it later...

Class dismissed... LOL OL J R

PS. If they eat rocket wadding or spent rocket motor casings, that stuff will either break down or pass through... it's the metal that's a problem...
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