I often see mushrooms and toadstools in sheep and cow fields. I don’t even know which would be poionous to me, never mind the livestock.
Do sheep or cattle eat these fungi and if so how do they know which are good for them and which, if any, they need to avoid?

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ivar_Mysterud/publication/268393489_Fungi_in_the_Diet_of_Domestic_Sheep/links/552b7d260cf2779ab79317a1.pdf

Don’t know about sheep but reindeer do.

I often see mushrooms and toadstools in sheep and cow fields

Which suggests they dont eat them when there’s plenty of grass about.

You’re assuming the poisonous fungi are also poisonous to sheep and cows. Birds eat berry’s that are poisonous to us so doesn’t necessarily follow that poisonous fungi is harmful to sheep and cows.

You’re assuming the poisonous fungi are also poisonous to sheep and cows. Birds eat berry’s that are poisonous to us so doesn’t necessarily follow that poisonous fungi is harmful to sheep and cows.

That was the question really. Celery is poisonous to cats for instance but not to us. If fungi are not good for cows and sheep, which as anaganllis suggests is probably the case, how do they know to avoid them? Actually, how does any animal know what to avoid? In our case our parents teach us, do the ewes teach the lambs or perhaps they just smell funny to them?
Hols link sounds promising but I can’t open it on my telephone, will have a read on my laptop later

In our case our parents teach us

Not 100%. There are certain tastes and smells that are hardwired in us to cause revulsion. Many of these are the things that you would expect. Meat that has gone off, excessively bitter plants, stagnant water etc. There are some things that a completely unparented child would not eat.

Fungi are a weird one, though. I used to know a tiny bit about this, but I can’t remember it now. But the toxins that exist in a Deathcap, for instance, are not evolved from a need for defence. So they do not revolt in the same way as a plant toxin that is evolved to defend the plant against a grazer. That is why fungal toxins are so dangerous in many cases as they don’t stop you in your tracks.

On the other hand, a plant toxin evolved for defence isn’t much good to the plant if it kills you 24 hours later when you’ve already eaten the whole thing.

There are plenty of plant toxins that aren’t evolved for defence too, mind.

When I was a kid on cub camp I saw a Deathcap in the woods (I was always interested in toxic plants etc so knew what it was). However, I touched it and then realised I didn’t know much about the lethal dose, whether it secreted it etc. I must have washed my hands at least ten times as a result!

Sometimes. Depends whether they’re in a 60’s psych rock phase at the time.

Yes they do 😀

And then of course there’s the definition of ‘poisonous’. My little mushroom guide book lists Liberty Caps as poisonous for example. A bit of a lazy categorisation in my opinion. I’d argue that they can actually be beneficial in the right setting, but some kind of warning is absolutely appropriate.  But anyway, Sheep… yeah i guess they hoover up  the odd little mushroom whilst eating grass (like Liberty Caps) but probably not in any volume to affect them, if indeed mushrooms do affect Sheep as others have pointed out. Or maybe they’re tripping balls 24/7. They certainly look weird.

if indeed mushrooms do affect Sheep as others have pointed out. Or maybe they’re tripping balls 24/7

Off their fleece?

Off their fleece?

Completely flocked up.

Celery is poisonous to cats for instance but not to us.

I disagree, celery is **** vile!

Completely flocked up.

Flock tup is something very different.

Celery is poisonous to cats for instance

I’m just wondering in what strange universe would a cat every try to eat a piece of celery

Lots of buns in the ovines.

Celery is poisonous to cats for instance but not to us.

I’ve never eaten celery. I’ve seen it on TV, but never in a supermarket. I guess it doesn’t look like food to me so I just never notice it’s there. It doesn’t look very appetizing on TV.

I can’t say I’ve ever seen sheep, or cattle, eat mushrooms. They certainly don’t eat field mushrooms once they are of a size we’d pick for ourselves but might do just as the bodies are pushing through the soil – a sort of side dish as it were. Then again sheep are quite nimble in how they eat and will leave grasses behind that aren’t to their taste whilst taking all around – rushes are a good example. Most likely is that they’ve a sense of smell attuned to the different vegetation.

We’d find mushrooms in fields with both cattle and sheep so they don’t actively search them out unlike ivy which sheep absolutely love and will stand as tall as they can on their hind legs to get it.

Edit: if mushrooms were actually harmful to stock then farmers would be round removing the mushrooms or shifting the stock to another field.

Don’t know about fungi, but sadly I know they eat yew berries

Don’t know about sheep but reindeer do.

So that’s Santa’s secret.

I’m just wondering in what strange universe would a cat anyone ever try to eat a piece of celery

FTFY

Goats deffinaltey do, exhibit A:

How a sheep works:

Q: “Will eating this make my life easier or keep me alive?”
A: Ignore

Q: “Will eating this kill me slowly and painfully?”
A: Eat as much as you can.

Sheep are thick as shit. Substitute alpaca / llama or any other woolly stupid creature. If a sheep was a human it’d be a Brexit voter that doesn’t wear a seatbelt and believes that Bill Gates invented vaccines to control them. The only good thing about sheeps is that you can make curry out of them.

You may be able to tell that I grew up around the wretched things.

I saw a Deathcap in the woods (I was always interested in toxic plants

Insert facepalm emoji here!!

It feels like I spent most of my childhood growing, harvesting and packing celery for the market. I eat one a week on average now days.

Insert facepalm emoji here!!

Well yes, but I meant plants, fungi and venomous animals. Basically anything toxic, because, well boyish interest. Apologies for imprecision, I was typing in a hurry. And I did use etc to indicate that it was all things toxic…

When I was about 12 I went to a Thai restaurant for the first ever time with my dad and my uncle. Turns out they weren’t vastly experienced in Thai food either as I ended up with something that made my lips feel like there was a blowtorch being run over them. We asked to reorder and the owner came out to advise. He was a really nice bloke and I think he must have made some joke about poison because we ended up talking about the relative merits of different toxins for doing away with people. Cyanide vs Strychnine etc.

The point to this anecdote – don’t know really, I did have some mushrooms earlier, though so….

I once saw a sheep walk straight off a cliff in Bull Bay. Never thought that it might’ve scoffed a load of hallucinogenic mushrooms and suddenly decided it wanted to be a dolphin. When I peaked over the edge there was just a dead sheep floating about in the water below. Drugs are bad m’kay.

Apologies for imprecision, I was typing in a hurry. And I did use etc to indicate that it was all things toxic…

Dont worry its just me. I am still fuming that The Private Lives of Plants had an episode about Fungi…bloody Attenborough!!!

wrong thread

And do mushrooms dream of (electric) sheep?