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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

DH asked me what do cows eat. AIBU to divorce him immediately?

595 replies

TheIckabog · 19/08/2020 09:38

We were watching a program about a fancy hotel where they have their own cows. There was a clip of the cows being hand fed apples.

DH exclaimed in surprise ‘I didn’t know cows eat apples!’ He then paused and said, ‘What DO cows eat?’ whilst looking genuinely puzzled.

I said to him what do you think they do all day in the fields? They eat grass/hay etc, how do you not know this? DH then shrugged and said he’d never really thought about it.

He is a well educated intelligent man in his 40s. We also grew up/live in a place where dairy production accounts for a large percent of the export, so it’s not like he’s never seen a cow in a field or on a farm before.

I am aghast. AIBU to divorce him immediately? I really can’t see any other option to be honest

OP posts:
Trashtara · 19/08/2020 14:59

@saleorbouy

I think you'll find that the feeding of cattle on the prion-rich diet of other cows has been illegal since the outbreak of BSE. So no need to scare monger.
is that aimed at me? I clearly said that beef based feed had been banned, due to BSE but other meats in cattle feed are not banned, though becoming rarer.
derxa · 19/08/2020 15:00

Over the next decade it mainly moved to soy as it was cheaper but meat stuff still exists, it wasn't banned
Here you go
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/770710/tse-feed-controls.pdf
You are not allowed to feed meat products to ruminants.

RiteAid · 19/08/2020 15:04

@Pukkatea I don’t disagree at all (I’m vegan so I don’t think cows should be farmed at all), I’m just amused by the passion behind it all!

Imworthit · 19/08/2020 15:05

Forgot this cracker one: Once worked on a building project where the client was refusing to have foundations - in stormy marshland, in Britain! Those were interesting meetings

TempestHayes · 19/08/2020 15:07

@BaconsLaw

My husband grew up thinking dogs were male and cats were female.
That's quite something. Did he think they reproduced asexually? Or that dogs were daddies and cats were mummies?
BeyondMyWits · 19/08/2020 15:12

Where I grew up cows ate grass in the summer and silage and draff (by product of the whisky industry) in the winter.

The draff used to be stored compacted with a topping of silage and when the farmers broke through for winter feed the smell round the farms was AMAZING! Thinking about that smell takes me back to childhood.

Lweji · 19/08/2020 15:19

@Terrorbites

This thread is an eye-opener as to why this country wet itself over a disease with a 99.97 survival rate and thought that a lockdown would cure it.....
It's not 99.97... Even in the lowest country on this list is 99,94. www.cebm.net/covid-19/global-covid-19-case-fatality-rates/ But even with a high survival rate, the total number of people affected because of the fast and high rate of transmission means thousands of deaths in a short period of time, and a very significant decrease in survival rate with high numbers affected. Not to mention the time lost to the illness and the damage done to vital organs in survivors.

So, I'd say you're a good example of what the thread is about...

Orchidsindoors · 19/08/2020 15:26

"Yes. But a picture of a cow in a field does not mean that, as you have asserted, that cows in the U.K. only ever eat grass."

Oh my god Flamingo. I didnt assert that. I said they get supplemented with other stuff and eat more Hay in Winter but mainly it is grass as they are in fields most if the time. A poster upthread was saying they dont eat grass, and I was saying of course they do.

Orchidsindoors · 19/08/2020 15:30

And you Flamingo were asserting that cows dont go in fields!!!!

derxa · 19/08/2020 15:34

Where I grew up cows ate grass in the summer and silage and draff (by product of the whisky industry) in the winter. The draff used to be stored compacted with a topping of silage and when the farmers broke through for winter feed the smell round the farms was AMAZING! Thinking about that smell takes me back to childhood. This is exactly what we fed our dairy cows in the 1970s and 80s

FlamingoAndJohn · 19/08/2020 15:35

@Orchidsindoors

"Why is eating deer different to eating veal?" It's a different animal!
Well yes, but why is one better or worse?
youkiddingme · 19/08/2020 15:39

I'd never really thought about it until then that ducks found ponds and that councils didn't buy them and put them on themselves. Having a pond of my own and wild ducks, I now realise I was being a bit stupid there

Could be worse. Years ago I had a garden that had a shared path down the middle and a bit of land to either side - but no boundary between us and the neighbour. Said neighbour put a small pond in her side, complete with lily pads. She went to the local exotic pet shop and bought some kind of toad for £7 which she put on the outdoor pond. The next day she knocked on my door asking if I'd seen it as it had 'vanished'. I somehow managed to refrain from saying, 'you mean it hopped it?'.
Another day she knocked to ask if i'd told my cat to go fishing in her pond as someone's cat had fished out a goldfish.

youkiddingme · 19/08/2020 15:41

Oh and I might add our cat was an indoor cat, and there were plenty of outdoor cats around...

BoyTree · 19/08/2020 15:42

You are not allowed to feed meat products to ruminants.

Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding, but that link seems to say that you can feed ruminants gelatine, collagen and hydrolised proteins made from other parts of animals so long as they are from non-ruminants. Are they not classed as meat products?

FlamingoAndJohn · 19/08/2020 15:45

@Orchidsindoors

And you Flamingo were asserting that cows dont go in fields!!!!
I said nothing of the bloody sort. I said that not all cows spend all day in fields eating nothing but grass. At some times they have top up dry food. Other cows are keep in barns at certain times of the year.

It not as binary as you think. Just because you see cows in a field in Wales it doesn’t mean that all cows in the U.K. are in fields 100% off the time.

ThickFast · 19/08/2020 15:48

@Wolfff. Omg your mum! My ex thought tails were just kind of skin and muscle I think.

FlamingoAndJohn · 19/08/2020 15:53

@Orchidsindoors

"Yes. But a picture of a cow in a field does not mean that, as you have asserted, that cows in the U.K. only ever eat grass."

Oh my god Flamingo. I didnt assert that. I said they get supplemented with other stuff and eat more Hay in Winter but mainly it is grass as they are in fields most if the time. A poster upthread was saying they dont eat grass, and I was saying of course they do.

You said 'In the uk they are in fields all day, constantly eating grass'
derxa · 19/08/2020 15:53

Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding, but that link seems to say that you can feed ruminants gelatine, collagen and hydrolised proteins made from other parts of animals so long as they are from non-ruminants. Are they not classed as meat products? Added to milk powder

Fuss · 19/08/2020 15:56

@youkiddingme

I'd never really thought about it until then that ducks found ponds and that councils didn't buy them and put them on themselves. Having a pond of my own and wild ducks, I now realise I was being a bit stupid there

Could be worse. Years ago I had a garden that had a shared path down the middle and a bit of land to either side - but no boundary between us and the neighbour. Said neighbour put a small pond in her side, complete with lily pads. She went to the local exotic pet shop and bought some kind of toad for £7 which she put on the outdoor pond. The next day she knocked on my door asking if I'd seen it as it had 'vanished'. I somehow managed to refrain from saying, 'you mean it hopped it?'.
Another day she knocked to ask if i'd told my cat to go fishing in her pond as someone's cat had fished out a goldfish.

Our local village FB has been in a bit of a flap (excuse the pun) about ducks appearing in various places around it. Now we had 12 ducklings this year so there are a lot of them about. People were worried what they should do about the duck in the garden.

Had to explain that ducks, though a bit bigger, were very much like wild blackbirds and would fly off if needs be. They come and go as wild birds do. They are just that bit cheekier in begging for food. Someone actually thought they needed to catch it and return it to a pond.

ThickFast · 19/08/2020 16:03

Re cows, can everyone just agree that some cows spend some of their time out doors eating grass,and be done with it?

Seeleyboo · 19/08/2020 16:05

Dated and subsequently dumped a bloke who said Champagne was made from apples.

FlamingoAndJohn · 19/08/2020 16:11

@ThickFast

Re cows, can everyone just agree that some cows spend some of their time out doors eating grass,and be done with it?
I completely agree with that.
Imworthit · 19/08/2020 16:13

Tried to explain the epic nature of this tread to my mum. Laughed so hard I started crying 😂 Couldn't speak for a good ten minutes.

BoyTree · 19/08/2020 16:14

These guides seem to contradict one another, so I can understand the confusion (I appreciate not everyone is procrastinating as hard as me and probably have better things to do than delve into animal feed regulations!)

www.gov.uk/guidance/supplying-and-using-animal-by-products-as-farm-animal-feed#abps-you-can-use

I'm glad that farmers know what they're doing because the regulations seem much more complex than I would have expected and a surprisingly interesting even if I don't understand them! Grin

Imworthit · 19/08/2020 16:23

@BoyTree

These guides seem to contradict one another, so I can understand the confusion (I appreciate not everyone is procrastinating as hard as me and probably have better things to do than delve into animal feed regulations!)

www.gov.uk/guidance/supplying-and-using-animal-by-products-as-farm-animal-feed#abps-you-can-use

I'm glad that farmers know what they're doing because the regulations seem much more complex than I would have expected and a surprisingly interesting even if I don't understand them! Grin

Better believe I've never procrastinated harder. I love you cow facts people! ♥️