The
amazing cow for all her talents is not particularly
trainable or having the same kind of intelligence
as other animals. By some peoples standards she
would rate about equal to a chicken, or half way
between a fence post and a dog. She is, however,
very good at training people! After all not only
is her every need seen to, she also enjoys free
maternity and childcare.
You all are aware, no doubt, that a cow has 4
stomachs. I will not bore you with the names,
I can't spell them anyway, but did you know the
baby calf has an esophagus groove to direct the
milk into the proper stomach? The other stomachs
do not start functioning until a little later.
Bet you didn't know baby calves are born with
pads on their sharp little hooves to protect their
mother's birth canal. These pads wear off easily
as the little calf struggles to stand up.
The adult cow encircles grass with her tongue
and then cuts it off with her bottom teeth, she
has no top teeth in front. She then swallows without
chewing. Later, at her leisure, she will "burp"
up her cud and chew it with teeth set back in
her jaw. This cud will then be swallowed passing
into another stomach.
This stomach is loaded with tiny "bugs",
or micro's, which breakdown and eat the food.
There are bugs that eat only corn, bugs that eat
only hay etc. When the bugs die off they are actually
a source of protein for the cow. So when the farmer
feeds the cow, he is actually feeding the bugs
in the cow's stomach. It is important that the
pH of the stomach is favorable for the bugs.
Cows are fed bypass proteins which the bugs cannot
breakdown. These then pass on down the line and
are digested later giving the cow a more steady
supple of protein which is necessary for todays
high milk production.
The tail is the cows mood barometer. Unlike the
dog, a "wagging" tail does not make
a happy cow. Not being milked in a timely fashion,
dinner off schedule, calves bellowing, and flies
are the major causes of crabby cows. Crabby cows
generate crabby farmers.
There is no doubt the dairy cow is an amazing
animal!
