Cow and Milk Facts

Cows stand to be among the more “basic” of farm animals, one which is hailed to be an essential in ideally painting the picture of a perfect farm scene.

The 2004 Home on the Range animated feature brought the traditional cow persona in a different light, telling the tale of how three young and unruly cows managed to help save their farm, as opposed to the passive personalities cows are often characterized to be, with different cows exhibiting individual aggression and tame personas on their own.

Dubbed as the “foster mothers of the human race”, cows stand to be the major source of milk which people drink, thus the reason why they are often found in farms. In fact, every family in the United States during the 1850s had their own cow, with the first cow in America landing in the Jamestown Colony some years back, in 1611.

Generally, cows are milked within an average of 3 to 4 years, with most cow calves being fed milk while they are 8 to 9 weeks old. As with most mammals, a cow must produce a calf for it to be able to produce milk, and most female cows, called heifers, are milked when they have their first calf at two years old.

1856 witnessed a revolution in the way milk is processed, with the development of the condensed milk process by Gail Borden. By 1895, the first pasteurizing system/machine was developed, furthering the processing rudiments involving milk.

Today, an estimated 110,000 farms based in the United States milk an average of 9.3 million cows, with most of these farms being family operated/maintained. Prior to the development of milking machines, estimates note that farmers back then are able to milk 6 cows each hour. With today’s modern milking machines, an average of 100 cows could be milked within an hour’s passing.

Given the benefits of milk, cows have maintained an important role in human societies, now with modern conveniences and benefits which makes the milking process faster and more efficient.

Highland Cattle

True Wild Life | Highland Cattle | Highland cattle (also known as the hairy cow) are an old Scottish breed of cow, bred primarily for their beef. Highland cattle are often bred for cattle shows, and some highland cattle can win many prizes due to the incredible condition of the highland cattle individuals. The highland cattle are famous for their long haired coats which help the hairy cows to cope with the harsh conditions of the Scottish Highlands. The highland cattle inhabit areas of Scotland close to the Arctic circle meaning that the highland cattle have adapted to endure the most uncompromising conditions.

Highland cattle originally come from Scotland. Highland cattle can now be found in Europe, North America and Australia, where the highland cattle are all commonly farmed for their meat but some people also use the long hair of the highland cattle. Highland cattle have adapted to living in such harsh terrains as highland cattle have a large, strong build and a thick double layer of long orange hair. Highland cattle also have two horns on the tops of their heads which the highland cattle use to dig through thick snow to find the vegetation that lies underneath and the highland cattle also use their horns in order to defend themselves from oncoming predators and other rival highland cattle.

The highland cattle are also extremely adept at foraging for food and the patience and skill of the highland cattle means that the highland cattle can often be found grazing on steep, mountainous slopes in the Scottish highlands. Highland cattle are herbivorous mammals and therefore only eat plant matter, mainly grasses. Highland cattle are also known to eat leaves from low growing trees and shrubs and the highland cattle are also rather partial to the odd flower!

Due to the sheer size of highland cattle, other than humans highland cattle have very few natural predators in their wild habitat. Depending on the location of highland cattle, packs of wolves are one of the main threats to grazing highland cattle and those highland cattle inhabiting the plains in North America, are also in fear of being hunted by larger animals such as mountain lions, cougars and bears. Coyotes in North America are also a threat to the young and weak highland cattle calves but it is too dangerous for the coyote to hunt a highland cattle calf unless the young highland cattle has been separated from the group.

Cow

True Wild Life | Cow | Cows are raised in many different countries around the world, mainly for the cows natural resources such as milk, meat and leather. In India the cow is seen as a sacred animal. There are thought to be nearly 1.5 million cows worldwide, most of the cows are sadly kept by farmers but there is sure to be the odd rouge escaped wild cows somewhere!

Cows spend their days in herds of around 40-50 cows, grazing on the grasslands and shrubbery. There is an old English tale which claims that cows will always sit down when its going to rain. The cow is known well amongst farmers for its ability to interbreed with species that are closely related to the cow. These can include yaks and bison, where these animals have been successful bred with the cow to produce hybrid cattle. Oddly enough though, the cow is unable to successfully breed with buffalo or water buffalo.

The cow has just one stomach (not four) but the cows stomach contains four separate compartments that work with the complex digestive system of the cow which allows the cow to control substances that are difficult and near impossible for many other animals to digest. It is commonly thought that cows, mainly male cows called bulls, are aggravated by the colour red. This is in fact not true as cows are colour blind and cannot distinguish between different colours. This common misconception has come about from the days of bull fighting where trainers were typically seen using a red flag. It is not the colour of the flag that would spur the cow on but in fact, the waving of the material itself.

It is thought that around 18% of the greenhouse gases that are currently being released into the atmosphere are coming from livestock such as cows. This is due to the methane that cows expel through burping and flatulence. 

Bison

True Wild Life | Bison | The bison is also known as the American bison and the American buffalo, although the bison is only thought to be very distantly related to the buffalo and the water buffalo found in Africa and Asia respectively. The bison is one of the largest types of cow in the world with adult bison commonly growing to 2 meters tall or more. The bison typically have long shaggy hair if they inhabit colder regions and the bison in the warmer climates have shorter hair.

The wild bison has been hunted by humans for meat, skins and trophy hunting. The bison has only a handful of predators in the wild mainly due to the sheer size of the bison. Wolves, bears and cougars are amongst those animals that hunt the bison in their natural habitat.

The bison is considered to be the largest land mammal still in existence in North America, where the natural habitat of the bison ranged from Canada to Mexico. Due to loss of the bisons habitat and hunting, the bison are now only found in large herds in very remote areas and farmland.

Before the settlers arrived in North America in the 1800s there were approximately 60 - 100 million bison inhabiting the area, the settlers hunted the bison population down to a mere 1,000 from which the species has still not fully recovered.