why do cows have more than 1 stomach?

Question

i found an old link about 320 boring facts thru answers and got really bored after the the 100th so i'll make it simple and just ask lol.

Answer 1

Cows eat mostly high fiber food (IE: grass) which is hard to digest. To get enough out of it to live on cows have the same solution as termites use to digest wood. They, as my old vet would say, . The first big stomach compartment has thriving bacteria and other microbes that live on & breakdown the fiber from the grass. The middle two sort & seive out the broken down particles which go onto the last which works like a human stomach.
And yes a cow dietitian has to keep in mind he has to feed the bacteria AND the cow itself.

Answer 2

Cow's have four stomachs. Each do their part in digecting food. When a cow eats grass it enters the rumen and reticulum. Sence cow are prey animals the eat as much grass as possible and go lie down some were, where it is safer. There they will cough up their cud ( the gress they ate before) and rechew it. They will then swallow it again and the food will enter the omasum and abomasum. Scientist have yet to figure out what the omasum does, but the abomasum has little enzimes or bugs in it which helps to digest the food.

Answer 3

Your actual question is "Why do cows have more than 1 stomach?" Though Brown's answer was the most informative and correct, it did not answer the question that you have asked. I will try my best to make it as simple as possible.

A cow is a ruminant as are deer, goats, and sheep. Ruminants evolved to consume and survive off of roughage - grasses and shrubs built predominantly of cellulose. They extract energy from food that humans are incapable of digesting.

They require multiple "stomachs" to do this. The reticulum is a small holding chamber. The rumen is a huge fermentation vat full of microbes (fungi, bacteria, yeasts, protozoa) that break down the cellulose into different acids that are needed for energy supply. The omasum helps absorb water and acids from the rumen. And finally, the abomasum (true stomach) is where the microbes from the rumen are digested and absorbed as amino acids and small peptides in the stomach and small intestine.

Thus, it is a complicated system that requires different organs to perform different functions. That is why a cow has more than one stomach.

Answer 4

i really don't understand why the 2 points are so valuable to people that they'll answer with whatever uninformed thing pops into their head

Cattle have one stomach, with four compartments. They are the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum, the rumen being the largest compartment. Cattle sometimes consume metal objects which are deposited in the reticulum, the smallest compartment, and this is where hardware disease occurs. The reticulum is known as the "Honeycomb." The omasum's main function is to absorb water and nutrients from the digestible feed. The omasum is known as the "Many Plies." The abomasum is most like the human stomach; this is why it is known as the "True Stomach."

Answer 5

I'm guessing because they are so big. They need 4 stomaches to digest all of that grass they eat.

Answer 6

cows do not have more than one stomach, they have 4 compartments to their stomach. They have more than one compartment because each compartment is specific to a function and a task. If they were missing any one compartment to their stomach their digestive system wouldnt function properly.

Answer 7

To digest the grass they eat.

Answer 8

cause they eat so much grass they have to fill somtin up.