Intro to Ruminants Flashcards
What is a ruminant?
A hooved animal capable of acquiring nutrients from pant-based food by fermenting if in a specialized stomach prior to digestion
What are some ruminant animals?
-Cattle
-Sheep
-Goats
-Bison
-Deer
-Moose
-Elk
-Giraffes
What are the 3 characteristics of a ruminant?
Hooved, no upper incisors, prey animals
What kind of hooves do ruminants have?
Cloven hooves (split) with 2 weight bearing toes on each foot
What kind of dental setup do ruminants have?
Lower incisors, upper dental pad consisting of a hard palate of cartilage that opposes the lower incisors
What are the 4 stomach compartments of ruminants in order?
-Rumen
-Reticulum
-Omasum
-Abomasum
What makes up the forestomach?
-Rumen
-Reticulum
-Omasum
What is the ‘true stomach’?
Abomasum
Ruminant digestion maximizes the extraction of…?
Nutrients from complex carbs (ie. fiber)
Ruminants will grab food and swallow it without…?
Completely chewing it
Where does fermentation begin?
The rumen
What is the rumen referred to as?
The papillary stomach
The rumen takes up…
Most of the left side of the ruminant animal
Food undergoes what in the rumen?
Anaerobic fermentation by microbes
What are the microbes in the rumen?
Protozoa and bacteria
What does the rumen produce?
-Volatile fatty acids
-CO2
-Methane
Rumen contractions work to…
-Mix food with fluid from the reticulum and rumen
-Reguruate food
-Eradicate gasses produced during digestion
What is rumination?
The process of regurgitating food in ruminants
The rumen and reticulum work together as a unit to…
Further digest fibrous material by rumination
Food moves from the rumen to the what as it is ruminated?
The reticulum
What happens during rumination?
-Animal regurgitates digested food
-Animal rechews and re-salivates food
-Animal swallows food back to the rumen
How long does an adult cow on a hay diet spend on ruminating?
8 hours per day
What is ruminating also called?
Chewing their cud
What are volatile fatty acids responsible for?
70% of the ruminant’s energy supply
What are some of the volatile fatty acids produced in ruminant digestion?
-Acetate
-Butyrate
-Propionate
What lines the rumen?
Papillae
What are papillae responsible for?
Absorbing VFA’s so they can be converted into energy
What is the reticulum also called?
The stomach with a net
Where is the reticulum in the body?
Cranial to the rumen
What does the reticulum do?
Continues fermentation and acts as a functional unit with the rumen
What kind of lining does the reticulum have
Honeycomb lining
Describe the strcuture of the omasum
Hard and firm
What does the omasum do?
Site of water absorption
What is the abomasum?
The glandular stomach
What is the most simular part of a ruminant to a monogastric stomach?
The abomasum
What does the abomasum do?
Where the site of protein and microbial digestion begins
What are the benefits of the ruminant digestive system?
-Allows animals to consume large amounts of food without chewing
-Conversion of waste products to high-value sources of protein
-Produces B complex vitamins
-Utilizes plant materials that are indigestible to humans (ie. cellulose) and turns them into high-quality digestible protein (milk and meat)
How does an immature ruminant work?
-Ruminants are not born with a functioning rumen so…
-They function as non-ruminants for the first 2-3 months of life
-Shunt milk past the rumen and reticulum to the omasum directly
What are cattle?
Ruminants belonging to the scientific category bovine
What is the genius of cattle?
Bos
What is a bos taurus?
European breeds
What is a bos inducus?
Tropical breeds
Breeds are further categorized as…
Dairy and beef breeds
