Cows

Table of Contents

What are they?...................................................... 1
What do they look like?..............................2
Staying Safe………………………………………….…………..4
What do they eat?............................................5
Four Part Stomach.…………………….…….……..6
Cow Products………………………………………….…..…...9
Other Facts…………………………………………….…………10

What are they?

Cows are large farm animals.
They are mammals. A baby cow is
called a calf. Calves drink their
mother’s milk. Females are called
cows and males are called bulls.

Did you know…?

A cow can’t make milk until

1 she has a calf.

What do they look like?

There are many types of cows all

over the world. Some have spots;

some have long hair, and some have

horns. Did you know…?

2 Cows live on every continent
except Antarctica.

muzzle

hoof

All cows have hair, a muzzle,

large ears, and four hooves.

Cows have a long tail that they

use to swat flies. All female cows

have an udder. Did you know…?

Cows have 32 teeth. That’s

3 the same number as humans.

Staying Safe
A cow has excellent
hearing. It can move each
ear in a different
direction. Moving its ears
allows it to listen for
danger and pick up sounds
from more than one
direction at a time.

A cow’s eyes are
located on the side
of its head so that
it can watch for
predators.

Did you know?

Cows can smell from up to

4 5 miles away!

What do they eat?

Cows are herbivores. They eat

grass, hay and grain. Cows use

their long tongue to grasp the

grass and pull it out of the

ground. Did you know?

5 Cows eat 50 lbs. of food
each day and drink enough
water to fill up a bathtub.

Four Part Stomach

A human’s stomach has one part,
but a cow’s has four! First, the
cow eats grass and just chews it
a little bit. The partly chewed
grass (cud) is stored in the first
6two parts of the cow’s stomach.

Parts where the
cud is stored

When the first two parts of the

cow’s stomach get full, the cow

regurgitates the cud and chews

it some more. Did you know?

Cows spend at least
8 hours a day eating

7 and chewing cud.

Cows need cud in
order to make milk.

No Cud,
No milk!

udder Parts where the

cud is digested

After the cow chews the cud

some more, it goes to the third

and fourth parts of the stomach

to be digested. Some of the

digested cud goes to the udder,

8 where it is made into milk.

Cow Products

Cows give us many different
products. Farmers raise them for
their meat, milk and leather.
The milk from a cow is used to
make other products such as butter
and ice cream.

9

Other Cow Facts

• Cows are also known as cattle.
• A group of cows is called a herd.
• Cows are smart, social animals. They like

to be around people and other animals.
• Cows can run 35 miles per hour.
• Adult cows can weigh up to 1,400 lbs.
• It takes 350 squirts from a cow to get

one gallon of milk. That’s why most
farmers use milking machines.
• A cow can produce six gallons of milk a
day.

10