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"I'm a fairly visual thinker. In doing science, I think in terms of pictures of things happening, and then do the mathematics."
- Gregory Benford

Mechanical Cow (Nibbler)  
  An autonomous mechanism that performs some of the actions of an ordinary bovine.  

The hard, irregular shape of the self-adjusting Nibbler moved over the grassland like a gigantic mechanical cow, only it had caterpiller traction bands instead of legs. Its thirty-two jaws, working alternately in echelons of eight, opened . . shut . . . nipped . . . tore . . . rhythmically. Professor Obinson had well remembered the importance of achieving conditions as identical as possible with those produced by the teeth and jaw action of herbivorous animals before the fodder went into the Metabolisers.


(Mechanical Cow [Nibbler] from 'Down on the Farm' by Simpson Stokes)

Technovelgy from Down on the Farm, by Simpson Stokes.
Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1937
Additional resources -

Fans of the science fiction and fantasy webcomic Gunnerkrigg Court welcome this reference to a laser cow:


(Laser cow from Gunnerkrigg Court)

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Down on the Farm
  More Ideas and Technology by Simpson Stokes
  Tech news articles related to Down on the Farm
  Tech news articles related to works by Simpson Stokes

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