Cows are ruminants, which means they have more than one stomach compartment. Humans are “monogastrics”, which means “one-stomached.” This means that cows digest their food differently than we do, and here is how their stomachs work.
If a cow lived in the wild they would be hunted by predators, so in order for them to get all the nutrients they need for the day they have to eat as much as they can in a short amount of time. This is where the different parts of the stomach are important.
The four compartments of the cow’s stomach are called the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. The rumen is where that food is stored at first and it starts to get soft. At this point cows have to regurgitate, or bring the food back up from their rumen into their mouth, and chew it so it is in smaller pieces. This food that is regurgitated is called “cud” and when you see a cow slowly chewing, you are probably seeing them chew their cud. The food is then swallowed again and the bacteria in the other compartments breaks the food down even more. You can tell that a cow feels safe and comfortable when they are chewing their cud because that means that they don’t think that they are in danger from any predators.
It is important for our ladies to always have food available so they can stay healthy and produce as much milk as possible. Having food available also makes it so their stomachs are always working they way they are supposed to and it keeps the bacteria levels balanced so they can live long, healthy, happy lives!
Little Jasper here is just learning to drink his milk out of a bucket but soon enough he will have his own cud to chew!