296 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



Course of food in a 

 cow's stomach. 



I, ruminant stomach; II, where 

 the cud-balls are formed; 

 III, IV, true stomachs. 



mother; the young 

 for a long journey; 

 "frozen" and will 

 never stir unless 

 actually touched. 

 As the mother is 

 obliged to be absent 

 for some time grazing 

 with the herd, the 

 calf is obliged to go 

 without nourishment 

 for a number of hours, 

 and so it is provided 

 with a large compound 

 stomach which, if filled 

 twice per day, suffices 

 to insure health and 

 growth. The cow, on 

 the other hand, giv- 

 ing her milk out only 

 twice per day, needs a 

 large udder in which 

 to store it. The size 

 of the udder is what 

 has made the cow 

 useful to us as a milch 

 animal. 



A fine cow is a 

 beautiful creature, her 

 soft yellow skin be- 

 neath the sleek coat 

 of short hair, the well 

 proportioned body, 

 the mild face, crowned 

 with spreading, 

 polished horns and 

 illuminated with large 

 gentle eyes, are all 



in their ruminating stomachs. During the 

 heat of the day, they move to the shade, 

 preferably to the shady banks of streams, 

 and there in quiet the food is brought 

 up, a small portion at a time, and chewed with 

 a peculiar sidewise movement of the jaws and 

 then swallowed, passing to the true stomach. 

 There is probably no more perfect picture of 

 utter contentment, than a herd of cows chewing 

 their cuds in the shade, or standing knee-deep 

 in the cool stream on a summer's day. The 

 cattle in a herd when grazing, keep abreast and 

 move along, heads in the same direction. 



Connected with the grazing habit, is that of 



the hiding of the new-bom calf by its 



calf is a wabbly creature and ill-fitted 



so the mother hides it, and there it stays 



A pet Holstein. 



