Cow milk is a nutritious beverage that many people are really interested in. But not many of them know clearly about “How is milk made in cows?” before they are shown up in grocery stores.
This article will help you to learn more about the dairy process. So read on for further information and have a deep understanding.
Why Do Cows Need To Be Pregnant To Produce Milk?
It is because cows are mammals. Their nature is to feed their babies with milk. To produce milk, cows must give birth to a calf. Several different hormones will be created and interacted with that only occurred during the pregnancy.
When a cow gives birth, the first milk is called colostrum. The colostrum is nutritious and essential for building the immune system for a calf’s well-being.
After the birth, her body is ready for farmers to collect milk for the dairy process.
Check more: Is Working On A Dairy Farm Hard?
How Is Milk Made In Cows?
Cows are ruminant animals, so they have a digestive system with four separate compartments. Each compartment plays a significant role in absorbing nutrition and producing milk.
Below is the process of how a cow turns grasses into milk in every section of its stomach:
- First, the cow eats the food. The food goes to the first stomach called the rumen. The function of this part is mixing foodstuff with water and breaking it down into stomach juices.
- In the second phase, the grass moves to the reticulum. Then the grass gets squished into small pieces called cuds. After that, the cud goes back into the mouth part, so it is chewed one more time.
- The third part of the process occurs in the omasum where the cud is squeezed out from the water and broken down further.
- Finally, the cud is totally digested in the abomasum. The nutrients in the grass can be taken into the small bowel. Mammary glands will turn nutrients and excess water into milk.
When the cow eats, the nutrients in the grasses are absorbed into the bloodstream. More specifically, the bloodstream helps to deliver nutrients to the udder for milk production. With every liter of milk that a cow makes, it needs 400 liters of blood going around the cow’s udder.
Cows need to eat food having rich nutrients such as protein, vitamins, fat, and sugar for good performance and to produce milk. For a daily diet, a cow usually eats up to 100 pounds of food.
Making an adequate amount of milk requires a consistent milking routine. Cows can be milked twice a day. And they will continue to produce milk for about ten months, even if they are pregnant during that time.
You had better stop milking about two months before the next birth of cows so that the udder can take time to rest for the next lactation.
Last Words,
After reading this article, hopefully, you will have a better understanding of the process of how cows make milk. The professional knowledge you get will help you considerably in farming, knowing how to take care of cows and what they need for milk production.