How Do Cows Make Milk?

Cow Chow!

What Do Cows Eat?

Good quality milk requires a good balanced diet.

The cows need to eat a variety of grasses including clover and bulky fodder to make them feel full. In fact, they usually munch their way through 70 kilos of grass and drink 70 litres of water a day!

When feed is in short supply, they might enjoy turnips, millet, oats or hay. But before they can give milk, they must have had a calf. Usually, they have one calf a year. The time when a cow is making milk is called the Lactation Cycle.

Just How Do Cows Make Milk?

Cows have four stomachs to store and break down the grass which becomes milk.

Stomach 1: The Rumen

Stores the partly chewed grass and mixes it with fluid to assist breakdown.

Stomach 2: The Reticulum

The grass here turns into 'cuds' (balls of grass). From here it is regurgitated and chewed again before passing to the third stomach.

Stomach 3: The Omasum

The 'cuds' become squashed before passing to the fourth stomach.

Stomach 4: The Abomasum

Grass is finally digested and moves through the intestines where essential nutrients are absorbed into the body. Cow's milk is made and stored in the udder. A cow needs to be milked at regular times, twice a day.