Why are cows always seen chewing on their food?

Answer 1

Cows have multiple stomachs (I think it's around 4). To get their food through all 4 stomachs, they vomit up the food (now called "cud") and chew it and swallow it down into the next stomach. They repeat the process until the grass is digested enough to be absorbed by their bodies.

Answer 2

Cows are ruminant animals. That means that they have the so-called four chambered stomach. In actuality, only one of those chambers is actually the stiomach and the others sacs off of the esophagus.

Grass is an incredibly tough thing to eat because it contains silicon dioxide in it (basically sand) and the cell walls are difficult to process. Most grass-eating species use fermentation to break down the grass. Fermentation is the utilization of single-celled organisms like yeasts and bacteria to break down sugars anaerobically (without oxygen). the first chamber of the cow stomach (the rumen) acts as that fermentation tank. The cow chews its food, it enters the rumen and the bacteria take over. Grass being the tough plant that it is does not break down easily, so what the cow will occasionally miz up the contents in the rumen by passing it to the reticulum (the second chamber) and back. When that isn't enough, they regurgitate the food and chew it up some more (called chewing the cud). This breaks the grass particles up further and allows the bacteria more access to the grass to break it down further.

When it is sufficiently broken down, it is passed down through the reticulum, through the omasum and into the abomasum (the true stomach) - and then it is pretty normal digestion after that.

Answer 3

Apparently you have never been on a farm to ask this question.
Cows are not chewing on food, they are chewing their cud. Look it up so you can learn more about cows and cuds too.
Don't mean to sound harsh to you but if you've never been on a farm how could you know about this anyway? Glad you asked because how else would you learn about cows chewing on their cuds anyway, right?

Answer 4

I didn't look at the others answers, but being from a small town, and seeing and being on lots of farms, I know this much. Cows have four compartments in their stomachs, and they will fill their mouth up with food, then regurgitate it and chew it again, then regurgitate it again, and chew it again...etc, as it's hard to digest unless it's just about liquid.

Answer 5

They chew cud. That is partially digested food that they force back into their mouths to chew. Cows have many stomachs, or chambers where food (grass) passes through. It needs to be rechewed to aid in digestion.

Answer 6

Cows have something like 4 stomachs or different stomach like areas and they eat the grass/food then later it comes back up and they have to rechew it some more then swallow it again.

Answer 7

because thats how they eat... im not meaning to sound rude, but thats why. They have like 3 stomaches or something, they like chew their food, spit it up, and then chew it again... ya cows...mooooo!

Answer 8

to aid in digestion, they must mix the salivia and the hay / grass / grains into a more digestable form, hence the cud they form by the constant mashing of the food products they eat

Answer 9

Same reason that you chew your food.

Answer 10

its not there food they are seen chewing food they are seen chewing there cud.