Cattle: Encyclopedia II - Cattle - Biology

Cattle - Biology

Cattle are ruminants, meaning that they have a unique digestive system that allows them to digest otherwise unpalatable foods by repeatedly regurgitating and rechewing them as "cud." The cud is then reswallowed and further digested by specialized bacterial, protozoal and fungal microbes that live in the rumen. These microbes are primarily responsible for generating the volatile fatty acids (VGAs) that cattle use as their primary metabolic fuel. The microbes that live inside of the rumen are also able to synthesize amino acids from non-protein nitrogenous sources such as urea and ammonia. These features allow them to thrive on grasses and other vegetation.

Cattle have one stomach, with four compartments. They are the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. The rumen is the largest compartment and the reticulum is the smallest compartment. Cattle sometimes consume metal objects which are deposited in the reticulum, and this is where hardware disease occurs. The reticulum is known as the "Honeycomb." The omasum's main function is to absorb water and nutrients from the digestible feed. The omasum is known as the "Many Plies." The abomasum is most like the human stomach; this is why it is known as the "True Stomach."

The aurochs was originally spread throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia. In historical times, their range was restricted to Europe, and the last animals were killed by poachers in Masovia, Poland, in 1627. Breeders have attempted to recreate the original gene pool of the aurochs by careful crossing of commercial breeds, creating the Heck cattle breed.

A popular misconception about cattle (primarily bulls) is that they are enraged by the colour red. This is incorrect, as cattle are mostly colour-blind. This rumour derives from bullfighting, where Matadors traditionally use red-coloured capes to provoke bulls into attacking. The red color is merely traditional, as the movement of the cape is the attractant.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Biology", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki