In this new edition of articles presented by eDairy Market, we are going to talk about cattle. This breed of animals, so beautiful and so present in our industry, fills us with love and joy because they are the source of healthy and sacred food.
Here are some curiosities:
1) They can move their jaw 40,000 times in a single day!
To begin with, we are going to tell you that cows are animals of the ruminant family, that is, they have a special digestive system, whose main characteristic is that they have four departments in what corresponds to our stomach. The first chamber of this stomach is called rumen, hence the name ruminants. This division allows them to digest something as difficult as the cellulose and starch in the forage they eat. For us, it is simply ‘fiber’, that which we are told helps intestinal transit, since we cannot digest it very well and it just passes through our digestive system. On the other hand, ruminants need to get all the nutrients from that forage, so they have to chew it a lot, and after swallowing it, return it to the mouth to chew it some more. In other words, they can move their jaws 40,000 times in a single day, and they need to drink a lot of water… up to 100 liters a day! up to 100 liters a day!
2) They spend an average of 14 hours resting
Although they don’t sleep since many of those hours, almost half of them, are spent ruminating. They like to roam, graze and walk for about 4 hours a day, and for more than 5 hours each day, they are eating! Therefore, they then need about 6 hours to ruminate all the food they have eaten in those 5 hours. Not only do they distribute their time quite regularly, but they do the same things at the same time, just as many pediatricians and educators recommend that children do!
3) Bovines are gregarious animals
So they like to go everywhere together, in groups of 20 or 30 animals. Within the group there is a dominant, a large and strong specimen that, traditionally, defends the others if there is a predator attack, and is the first to access the shaded areas. There is also a leader, who is usually the oldest cow, who knows the environment and the pastures well, and who encourages the others to change their activity: she gets up to walk and the others follow her, or she starts drinking so that the others will do the same.
4) The cow’s senses
Sight: It is true that their sight has special characteristics. Their eyes are on the sides of their heads, which gives them almost 360º of vision (and you can almost see their hind legs), perfect to prevent predator attacks. But for this reason they have very little binocular vision, that is, they have only between 30 and 50º of vision in three dimensions (in humans, the binocular field of vision reaches more than 120º). This prevents them from calculating distances well, and they see vertical lines much better than horizontal lines. This is the reason why they can climb a ladder but have serious difficulties descending it.
Smell: Cows have a very good sense of smell, as they can smell aromas that are 10 kilometers away.
Hearing: They have much more sensitive hearing than we do, as they listen at a higher volume. It is believed that a cow is bothered by noises above 80 decibels, while humans can withstand up to 120 decibels without problems. In addition, they can move their pinnae in various directions, so they look for the source of the sound with their ears. If they are facing us, they are paying attention to us.
5) Bovines can live for 15 to 18 years in peace and quiet
In India, where they are protected because they are considered sacred, they can live up to 25 years. There they are the symbol of fertility and motherhood. Cows can have a calf every year under normal conditions and protect their young for three days after calving in the bush. In addition, 90% of the milk we humans consume comes from cows, although, like all mammals, they only produce milk after calving.
Here is a video for you to enjoy the presence of this beautiful breed:
✅ At eDairy Market we have all the dairy categories, all the products and all the companies. We represent you.
✅ Power your business through eDairy Market:
- Your microsite with products, brand and domain of your company at a minimum cost.
- You will be able to sell your products and we do not charge you commission per sale.
- Now you can sell your Products, Ingredients and Dairy Machinery in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese.
✅ Create your own online store in a super easy way:
