Powerful Magnet Removes Tramp Hardware In Feed

Powerful Magnet Removes Tramp Hardware In Feed LIVESTOCK Feeding Equipment 7-6-16 "Save just one animal and you've more than paid for it," says Steve Mangan, Canadian dairy farmer and inventor of the Roto-Mag, a powerful magnetic device for eliminating "tramp" hardware in silage, grain and other feedstuffs. Steve has teamed up with Kerry McConkey of Norlen Systems, Trenton, Ont., to manufacture and market the new-style preventative for hardware disease. The Roto-Mag is made up of four 12-in. long metal paddles, each equipped with two special donut-shaped magnets. The eight magnets have a combined magnetic pull of 48 lbs. and a life expectancy of 15 years. As grain or silage flows over the Roto-Mag, it rotates the magnetic wheel. The unit is special made to withstand haylage and silage acids, and to operate inside or outside under extreme hot or cold temperatures, McConkey points out: "It's designed for easy installation at the last stop for feed before it goes into the animal's mouth. In a silo, for example, it monitors feed as it's unloaded out of the structure, thus ensuring interception of any broken chain links or other scrap iron shed by the silo unloader itself. "Magnetic strength of the Roto-Mag is enough to intercept and hold scrap iron pieces of most any size ù from the smallest shear pin to pieces as big as a vice-grip ù without being brushed off by the flow of feed. A single unit will monitor the amount of silage discharged by two silo unloaders operating simultaneously," McConkey explains. "We had 25 units out on test last summer. Farmers using them couldn't believe their silage and other feed had so much hidden scrap metal in it. Every farmer-user found pieces which the magnets pulled out. One farmer collected a 5 gal. pail full from his silo in only a two-month period." Sells for $179 (Canadian dollars). McConkey adds that the donut-shaped magnets can be slipped off the Roto-Mag paddles and used elsewhere around the farm. "For example, if you drop a pipe wrench or other expensive tool into a manure pit, you may be able to retrieve it by lowering the magnets into the pit with a rope." For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Roto-Mag, Norlen Systems Inc., 340 Sydney St., P.O. Box 758, Trenton, Ont. K8V 5W6 (ph 613 394-4311).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.