How do cows make milk?
Types of cows
There are several types of dairy cows: Ashier, Brown, Swiss, Holstein, and Jersey cows. Holstein cows makes the most milk and are popular.
making milk
In order to produce milk a female dairy cow will have her first calf when she is about 2 years old. Usually in spring she will then produce milk after 10 months of calving .
A female cow will often have about 14 calves in her lifetime, and she will live to 15 to 16 years old.
FOOD
What do cows eat? Mostly cows eat grain, minerals, grass, and water, and they digest and turn it into milk. Cows also have a four-chambered stomach in order to digest the grasses they eat
how a cow produces milk
Plant material will soften in the first chamber. The second chamber has microorganisms that feed on the softened plant material. This makes energy and proteins.
In the third chamber material will move through into the small intestine as nutrients and extra water are put back into the the bloodstream.
Next it circulates to the mammary gland in the udder. Milk is created when cells combine the nutrients with sugars from the cow's liver. Then her udder will fill with milk so she can feed her calf or get milked by a dairy farmer.
Here's a diagram showing the inside of a cow body. Cows have a four-chambered stomach.
Not all cows are built for milking. Some are raised to turn into beef.
Holstein cows make the most milk.
Most of the milk Americans drink comes from cows.
The calf gets milk from its mother's udder. Milk is not just for humans.
This shows the mammary gland where milk is created.
Visit these sources to find more information:
Websites about How Cows Make Milk:
Books about How Cows Make Milk:
- The Milk Makers by Gail Gibbons
- Cows by Peter Brady
- Life on a Cattle Farm by Judy Wolfman
Fun fACTS:
- Cows have four udders to milk with
- Cows have four stomachs
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