ANATOMY

Detailed explanation-1: -This softened food is called the cud, and it is sent back up to the cow’s mouth, where it is re-chewed before going back down into her stomach to be fully digested. Chewing cud produces saliva which is important for controlling rumen acidity.

Detailed explanation-2: -The scientific term for “chewing their cud” is rumination. Cattle will spend about a third of their day ruminating. When they’ve finished with this step, the food will travel to the next stomach compartment. The next compartment is the omasum.

Detailed explanation-3: -ruminants; ruminantly The Latin meaning of ruminant is literally “chewing over again” or “chewing the cud.” A similar word is ruminate, which comes from the same root and means “think deeply about something."

Detailed explanation-4: -The reason is that cows must chew their food twice in order to digest it properly. Cows spend nearly eight hours out of every day chewing their cud. This plus normal chewing of food can total upwards of 40, 000 jaw movements per day. When a cow first takes a bite, it chews just enough to moisten the food.

Detailed explanation-5: -Cattle, deer, sheep, goats and antelope are some examples of animals that chew their cud. When cud-chewing animals eat their food, some of the food is stored in a special pouch within its stomach. It later regurgitates this stored food, or cud, and begins to chew it again.