Term
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Definition
| Rumen- This is the first compartment of the cattle’s stomach and where fermentation occurs, which allows for the digestion of fiber and other feeds. This is the largest compartment of the stomach and can hold up to 50 gallons of digested feed. It is not the cow that digests the feed but the bacteria in the rumen, which does the most of this work. The rumen contains billion bacteria and more specially, 1 mL of rumen fluid contains 10-50 billion microbes and over 1 million protozoa. These bacteria attach to the feed particles to digest the feed. |
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Term
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Definition
| Reticulum- This compartment is attached to the rumen and has a honeycomb structure to its wall. The main function of this compartment is to trap large feed particles. First to make sure they don’t enter the next section of the stomach before they are digested and second to collect for additional rumination. These particles are then regurgitated, re-chewed, salvia added and then re-swallowed (otherwise known as chewing their cud). Saliva is important to the rumen as it functions as a buffer. And a cow will produce 25-40 gallons of saliva per day. This system has allowed cattle to eat forage rapidly and then store later for digestion. |
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Term
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Definition
| Omasum- This compartment acts like a filter. The rumen is 80% water and cattle are required to drink 35-40 gallons of water a day, mainly to maintain the rumen environment. The many folds of the omasum serve to squeeze out the water from the feed, so that the majority of the water doesn’t ‘escape’ into the rest of the digestive tract and remains in the rumen. |
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Term
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Definition
| Abomasum- The final compartment of the stomach is the abomasum. This compartment is similar to our stomachs and has a low pH and enzymes to digest the proteins in the feed. Microbial protein plus undigestible intake protein (e.g. by-pass protein) from the feed is broken down and these amino acids absorbed by the animal in the small intestine. The nutrients presented to the cow at this point are very different than the feed which entered the rumen. |
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