Community Magazine April 2014

98 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE The Cow The cow is the adult female animal of the cattle family. The bull is the adult male of the cattle family, while a heifer is a female cow that has not yet had a calf. Cows are ruminants, which are animals that chew their cud. A cow chews its cud for up to eight hours each day. Cows have four digestive compartments in their stomachs (they do not have four stomachs). Ruminants use their multiple stomach compartments to break down food materials with the help of enzymes and bacteria. The partially digested material is then regurgitated and sent back to the mouth, where it is chewed and swallowed again, in order to break down the material even more. Cows are raised in many different countries around the world, mainly for their natural resources such as milk, meat, and leather. There are three types of cattle in the United States: dairy cattle, which are developed to produce milk; beef cattle, which are raised for their meat; and dual-purpose cattle, which are raised for both milk and meat. Dairy cows provide 90 percent of the world’s milk supply. The two main breeds of dairy cows are the Holstein and the Jersey cow. Of all the dairy breeds in the United States, the Holstein cow is the most numerous; 93 percent of the country’s dairy cows are Holsteins! Holsteins are quite large, and sport color patterns of black and white or red and white. Their spots are like fingerprints – no two cows have identical spots. A mature Holstein cow weighs about 1,500 pounds and stands fifty-eight inches tall at the shoulder. Its milk has the lowest percentage of butterfat. The Holstein’s popularity stems from its ability to produce more milk than any other breed. Top producing Holsteins milked three times a day have been known to produce over 72,000 pounds of milk in 365 days. A little over 5 percent of the dairy cows in the United States are Jersey cows, making them the second largest dairy breed in the country. The Jersey cow originated on the Island of Jersey, a small British island in the English Channel off the coast of France; hence its name. This cow tends to be a golden-brown color, with a black nose and black hooves. Jersey cows are the smallest of all dairy breeds. Amature Jersey cow has an average weight of 900 to 1,200 pounds. It has the richest milk, with the highest percentage of butterfat and protein. The average cow in the United States produces fifty-three pounds of milk per day, which is equivalent to about 6.2 gallons.

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