Science & Technology

These important animals provide milk, meat, and leather.

Cows are large domesticated animals part of the Bovidae family, along with goats, sheep, bison, and buffalo. Originally native to Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, the mammals now live in all parts of the world. Their value has been apparent for many years, though their roles have changed over time. Cows are even popular as stuffed animals, cartoon characters, and subjects of nursery rhymes and songs.

General Information About Cows

Cows – or cattle – live on farms, ranches, and other agricultural areas. The average male weighs up to 1,800 pounds, while the average female weighs around 1,300 pounds. They stand just below five feet tall and are approximately 11 to 12 feet in length.

Cows have different names depending on their sexual maturation. Adult females are called cows, while adult males are called bulls. Castrated males are referred to as steers, and young females are called heifers. A baby cow is a calf, girl or boy.

Cows are herbivores, meaning they eat only plants and plant matter. While they primarily graze pastures, they also get necessary nutrients from foods such as hay, fruit, oats, and corn. They are ruminants, which means they have four-chambered stomachs. Each chamber serves a purpose that allows them to eat plant matter that is sometimes difficult to digest. The four parts of a cow’s stomach are the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. After digestion begins in the rumen, the food is then regurgitated (spit up) into a cow’s mouth for further breakdown (called chewing the cud). The fully digested food is then turned into milk in females and helps produce the meat that humans consume.

Cows graze for up to six hours a day and drink the equivalent of a bathtub full of water daily. When food is scarce, the animal will reduce its intake; when food is plentiful, it will increase its intake. A healthy female with the proper amount of nutrients can produce more than six or seven gallons of milk daily.

Interesting Facts

• Cows can produce up to 125 pounds of saliva each day!
• Cows can live up to 25 years.
• Cows can see color and have nearly panoramic vision.
• One herd averages 30 cows to one bull.
• Cows can detect smells up to five miles away.
• You can determine a bull’s age by counting the rings on its horns.
• Cows can reach their noses with their tongues.

Contributions

Cows contribute so much to human survival, including meat, dairy products, and leather. These provisions have assisted humans for hundreds of years. Before the introduction of gas-powered farm equipment, the large animals were used to pull carts and work the fields by dragging plows and other heavy machinery.

In some countries, cows were considered to be sacred animals and were treated with the utmost respect. They are valued in India as symbols of non-violence, motherhood, and divinity. The animals are so adored that, in some parts of the country, it is a serious moral offense to do the animals any harm, and slaughtering them is strictly prohibited.

Popularity

With more than 920 breeds and nearly 1.3 billion cows in existence, it is likely that you have seen one grazing in the fields along the highway or in cartoons or ads. Cows are quite popular as characters in movies or as parts of songs and nursery rhymes. Some of the more famous ones you may have heard of are the Chick-fil-A cows that beg consumers to eat more chicken. There is also Elsie, the Borden Cow, that works as a mascot for the dairy company. One you may not have heard of is Pauline Wayne, the Holstein that lived at the White House during President Howard Taft’s administration.

The importance of cows is immeasurable. They provide humans with many dairy products and meat for consumption. Their hides are useful to make leather clothes, shoes, purses, luggage, and more. They are an irreplaceable part of our society and survival.

1. Cows live in all countries of the world.
2. Cows are ruminants, meaning they have four-chambered stomachs.
3. Cows produce milk, meat, and leather for human use.