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Cows... How exactly do the four stomachs work???

G

gabemcg

Platinum Member
So...

...How do those 4 stomachs work???

Do they fill up one at a time, then go to the next one, then the next one, and so on?

Or is it like they fill up evenly, equal ammounts of food go to each?

Do liquids go to a perticular stomach, and solids another?

How about when they puke, can they puke from just one stomach, or all they all puking @ once?

There must be an intricate valve system in there somewhere, It just boggles the mind...

...don't you think?
 
Originally posted by: venk
probably similar to the 4 chambers of the human heart.
Click to expand...

Am I just an idiot, or does that make no sense whatsoever?... If I recall correctly, 2 are for taking oxigenated blood in, and two are for pumping it out... I can really see no connections to cows here...
 
Actually at one stage of the digestive (forget which one) the cows actually regurgitate the contents and chew on the "vomit" before reswallwoing it.

EDIT: I believe the food (regardless of what it is) goes through all four stomachs.
 
I think different stomachs process different foods. Not too sure. It's something google can clear up
 
As I recall, the four stomachs work like an assembly line of sort (but for disassembly). The first stomach just holds stuff for late regurgitation. I'm not sure about the other three. One of the stomachs probably has symbiotic bacteria in it that can digest cellulose (which is the hardest part).
 
from the inerweb...

We quickly learned that cows are ruminants. Most ruminants, including the cow, have four stomachs, although camels and some other ruminants have three. The first stomach chamber is called the rumen. This is the chamber in which large amounts of food are stored and softened.

After the food is processed and softened in the rumen, it is regurgitated. This substance is called the cud and is chewed again. The chewed cud goes directly to the other chambers of the stomach. In the cow, these chambers are, in order, the reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. Once the cud arrives in these chambers, additional digestion occurs.
Click to expand...
 

Good question. I had to looked up the info a month ago because my 26 year olg gf asked me the same question.

It is basically one stomach with 4 chambers.

Rumen is where the coarse feed go to for fermentation and can be regurgitate for further chewing/grinding.

Reticulum is the mixing chamber/holding tank that keeps the feed moist. Reticulum is also a garbage collector that would retain stone/metal/hard/heavy object if the bovine ingested it.

Omasum is a dehydration chamber that absorbs moistures and passes the feeds on to the Abormasum.

Abormasum is the true stomach where enzyme further break down the feeds and pass it down to the small intestine to absorbs nutrients.

 
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