The Cow - Die Kuh

Cow 101: Did you know?

• Cows or cattle are mammals.

• The male cow, which is primarily used for farm work, breeding, hides and its meat, is called a bull.

• A female cow is only capable of giving milk after having given birth to a calf.

• A young female cow is called a heifer. A heifer becomes a cow when she gives birth to a calf. For breeding purposes this usually happens around age two.

• A calf is a baby cow.

• Cows provide us with milk, meat and leather.

• They are kept on family owned farms as well as commercially operated farms.

• Dairy cows are usually milked no more than twice a day, which allows them a lot of time to graze. The more grass a cow eats, the better the milk will taste. The type of food a cow eats affects the way the milk tastes and consequently also the way dairy products taste, such as cheese or milk chocolate.

• Even though some cows are allowed to graze, most of them are fed a mix of hay and silage. Silage contains hay, corn, barley, field grasses, cotton seed, as well as grocery/bakery byproducts.

• Cows also drink 30 to 40 gallons of water a day (=114 to 151 liters).

• A cow is milked roughly 300 to 350 times a year, but at commercial dairy operations they are milked year round.

• Dairy cows are butchered for their meat when they no longer produce milk or at death.

• A cow produces about 90 glasses of milk per day.

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