78 JUDGING CATTLE 



the most of it is returned to the mouth and remasticated; 

 when this is accomplished the food passes through the two 

 other stomachs and finally lodges in the fourth. After 

 undergoing a mixing process by the action of the muscles of 

 the stomach, the food passes into the small intestines. Up to 

 this time the chief action of the various parts has been to break 

 up the food, so that the fluids of the body may act upon it, 

 and make the digestible and nutritive portion into a solution. 

 In its passage thus far the food has been subjected to the 

 action of the saliva of the mouth and the gastric juice of the 

 stomach, together with the bile of the liver and pancreatic j uice 

 which attack it in the small intestine. The result of this action 

 is that the soluble nitrogenous material, carbohydrates and 

 salts are now in a condition to be received by the blood and 

 carried to the parts of the body that make the most abund- 

 ant use of it. We see from this that the stomach and its aids 

 have an important part to play in preparing the food, so that 

 it may supply the cow the material to carry on her specialty, 

 which is the making of milk. 



130. Function of the Blood. The food now being in a 

 condition to be utilized by the animal economy, let us see 

 how it passes into the blood and finally reaches that other 

 great manufacturing center of the body of the dairy cow, 

 the udder. It is the blood that is the medium for carrying 

 the nutritive portions of the food to the organs needing them. 

 The mucous membrane or inner lining of the small intestines 

 is covered with a large number of small glands that have the 

 appearance of the pile on velvet. These villi consist of cells 

 and numerous small branches of veins called capillaries, and 

 they also have what are known as lacteals. All the consti- 

 tuents, excepting the fat, pass through the wall of the small 

 capillaries and these connect with the portal vein, which 

 carries the blood to the liver and thence to the right side of 

 the heart. The emulsified fat of the food reaches the same 

 destination by a slightly different course. It passes into the 



