It’s a nightmare that becomes reality for all too many newlyweds: an ill-fitting wedding ring that slips off the finger and vanishes while doing the dishes or taking a swim.

But for one German farmer, luck was on his side after he lost his ring while feeding his cows. Several months later, his local butcher retrieved it from the animal’s stomach.

Johannes Brandhuber, a recently married farmer in the small town of Simbach am Inn in Lower Bavaria, was distraught when he lost his ring in November while tending to his livestock.

Unbeknown to him at the time, the ring came off his finger and was swallowed by one of his cows, Herzal, while he was feeding her some silage.