Cows swallow food when it is only half chewed, then it travels to the rumen where it is mixed with water and sent to the reticulum. The job of the reticulum is to turn the food into small balls, called cud, it then sends the cud back to the mouth to be chewed again. Sounds like a lot of work doesn’t it? After the cud is chewed for a second time, it goes to the omasum where the water is squeezed out of the cud. The food is finally digested in the abomasum, and sent on its way to the intestine. The small intestine takes the nutrients out of the digested food and sends them back to the cow’s blood. Some of this blood then travels to the cow’s udder, where the secretory glands turn the nutrients into milk. The cow’s job is now done! But how do we get milk from the cow? In the past, dairy farmers would milk their cows by hand, by squeezing the teats on the cow’s udder and collecting the milk in a bucket underneath. These days milking is done by computerised machines at the farm. Twice a day, cows make their way to the milking area where the dairy farmer places a suction cup on each teat of the cow’s udder. These cups are connected to rubber hoses. When the machine is turned on, the machine’s pumps gently suck the milk from the cow’s udder and into the hoses. The milk then moves through the hoses into stainless steel pipes that take the milk to large refrigerated tanks on the farm, where the milk is cooled quickly to make sure no germs get into the milk. The milk then needs to be checked for freshness and then it is sent away to be processed. The milk is transported to the processing plant in stainless steel tankers that are refrigerated to keep the milk cold, clean and fresh.
Cows swallow food when it is only half chewed, then it travels to the rumen where it is mixed with water and sent to the reticulum. The job of the reticulum is to turn the food into small balls, called cud, it then sends the cud back to the mouth to be chewed again. Sounds like a lot of work doesn’t it? After the cud is chewed for a second time, it goes to the omasum where the water is squeezed out of the cud. The food is finally digested in the abomasum, and sent on its way to the intestine. The small intestine takes the nutrients out of the digested food and sends them back to the cow’s blood. Some of this blood then travels to the cow’s udder, where the secretory glands turn the nutrients into milk. The cow’s job is now done! But how do we get milk from the cow? In the past, dairy farmers would milk their cows by hand, by squeezing the teats on the cow’s udder and collecting the milk in a bucket underneath. These days milking is done by computerised machines at the farm. Twice a day, cows make their way to the milking area where the dairy farmer places a suction cup on each teat of the cow’s udder. These cups are connected to rubber hoses. When the machine is turned on, the machine’s pumps gently suck the milk from the cow’s udder and into the hoses. The milk then moves through the hoses into stainless steel pipes that take the milk to large refrigerated tanks on the farm, where the milk is cooled quickly to make sure no germs get into the milk. The milk then needs to be checked for freshness and then it is sent away to be processed. The milk is transported to the processing plant in stainless steel tankers that are refrigerated to keep the milk cold, clean and fresh.
Yr3_4FoodFactsChanges_F_P.docx