big but not beautiful - the pet mangelwurzle
Until last weekend I’m not sure I believed in mangelwurzels. I’d heard of The Wurzels and was aware of hearing people refer to roots as mangles; but now I know the truth.
A mother and son team in the village who grow vegetables to an olympic standard and scale called recently to offer us mangelwurzles as cattle feed. Either a crazy hoax or these things are real. And so it turned out. We picked up half a trailer load last Sunday. Quite red and to be honest, not the prettiest vegetable – if there was going to be a parade I’d be tempted to place it towards the back, unless we’re talking size – then they’d be right up there at the front.
They are a member of the beet genus Beta and are apparently a nutritious fodder for cattle and pigs. In the absence of a mincer, we cut a couple up with a spade and presented them to Admiral and Chestnut, who after an initial excited sniff and lick, turned up their noses and walked away.
So we now have a pile of mangelwurzels which our animals don’t like. I think actually that they will develop a taste for them, especially when they’ve been on a completely dry diet of hay and straw for a while.