Main photo taken by Amy Leech
Last night in near total darkness, walking the two house cows home for milking, Nell, uncharacteristically, dragged her feet (all four of them). She decided she couldn't walk another step without a few mouthfuls of horrid-looking old stinging nettle. Sometimes a cow will eat a whole cubic yard of them without blinking (apparently blinking is good for ones eyes but I don't know if cows know this_I don't even know if cows can blink but today I will endeavour to find out.)
Many a time I have loitered while a sheep or three has daintily nibbled the spikey tops of thistles and of course cows and sheep all actually need the dark green leaves of trees and hedgerows to give them the vital linoleic and linolenic acid, essential for growth. Yet, how many times have we all seen neatly fenced fields where livestock is prevented from browsing any of the surounding greenery?
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4 comments:
I have a horse who loves to stop and eat nettles - he has some issues with stiffness, a bone spavin to be precise, and I wonder if there is good medicine in them for him. Either way, we wait often by the gate while he devours a few mouthfuls of the oldest, woodiest kind.
That's interesting.
One thing's for sure, cows and horses know more than we do!
Well, nettles have many medicinal uses, but arthritis is one of them, so I'm sure he's self medicating - I used to look after an ancient pony who went for a daily walk to pull willow leaves for her pain relief :)
Brilliant
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