• tal@lemmy.today
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    1 day ago

    Why do you think they would do that at their age?

    I have no idea if this is it, but there is a use for ingesting magnets with cows, which might have inspired him. New Zealand does export a lot of beef.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_disease

    Hardware disease in livestock is traumatic puncture of the gastrointestinal tract with resultant spread of infection, caused by ingestion of a sharp, hard object, usually a piece of hardware (hence the name). These pieces of metal settle in the reticulum and can irritate or penetrate the lining.[1] It is most common in dairy cattle, but is occasionally seen in beef cattle. It is very rarely reported in any other ruminants.[2] It can be difficult to conclusively diagnose, but can be prevented by the oral administration of a magnet around the time that the animal reaches the age of one year.[2] Depending on where the infection spreads, the medical names for it include bovine traumatic reticuloperitonitis and bovine traumatic reticulopericarditis.

    A cow magnet, which can be used to prevent hardware disease

    That being said, those things are shaped to pass through the system, I don’t think are super-powerful rare earth magnets, and you use a single one.