What's with the ruminating of cows? When does the cow regurgitate?

What's with the ruminating of cows? Ruminating means that after eating for a period of time, some animals return the semi-digested food from the stomach to their mouth and chew again. When the cow has eaten the forage or lies down to rest, people will see the cow's mouth constantly chewing into a food ball and swallow it again. It takes about 1-2 minutes at a time, and about 6-8 hours a day for rumination, which can make a large number of forage grasses thin and soft, and quickly pass through the rumen to the back digestive tract. This allows cattle to eat more forage.

Time for cattle to regurgitate

The rumination of cattle usually begins at 30-60 minutes after stopping feeding, and the calf begins to ruminate at about 21-30 days. The ruminating time of beef cattle is 7-8 hours at night, generally 70% in winter and 54% in summer, and 10 times in a day and night. The ruminating time of yellow cattle is 2436 minutes, and that of beef cattle is 4060 minutes. A grass ball of ordinary cattle chewed an average of 48 times in the mouth, while beef cattle chewed an average of 30 times. There are more rough straw and withered and yellow grass in winter, and the number of chewing increases accordingly.

The process of ruminating cattle

Cattle are generally in a hurry to eat, especially roughage, most of which are swallowed into the rumen without full chewing. after rumen soaking and softening for a period of time, the food returns to the mouth after reverse vomiting and re-chewing. the process of mixing saliva again and swallowing into the rumen. When cattle are sick, excessive fatigue and strong external stimulation, ruminating behavior can be weakened or completely stopped. once ruminating stops, food stays in the rumen, often due to the inability to expel the gas produced by fermentation, resulting in rumen expansion.

The stomach structure of cattle

2. Reticular stomach: the reticular stomach accounts for 5% of the total volume of the four stomachs, and its function is like a sieve, storing heavy objects such as nails and wire eaten with the feed.

3. Braided stomach: braided stomach accounts for 7% of the total volume of the four stomachs, and its main function is to absorb water in the feed and squeeze and grind the feed.

4. Abomasum: the abomasum, also known as the true stomach, accounts for 8% of the total volume of the four stomachs, and its effect is the same as that of monogastric animals, which can secrete digestive juices and digestive enzymes, digest undigested feed in the rumen and rumen microbes that enter the true stomach together with rumen chyme.

Conclusion: in fact, ruminating is one of the important digestive processes of cattle and other ruminants. By ruminating, feed is chewed and mixed with saliva (the daily secretion of saliva is 100,200L, saliva contains a lot of salt and endogenous urea, etc.). Increase the decomposition surface of rumen microorganisms and stabilize the rumen pH value between 6 and 7, creating good conditions for rumen fermentation and protein metabolism.