Behold The Humble Cow

So much hate for an animal just living its best life...grazing

As I took my morning walk the other day, I happened upon a cow just grazing in a pasture. So I stopped to take a picture. Why would I take a picture of a cow? We have all seen cows before. But as I saw the cow, I thought “Look at this animal, just living its best life, grazing on the grassland, just watching the world go by”

But before I get into talking about the humble cow, I thought I would take a pause to re-introduce myself to my readers since my subscribers have grown substantially in the last year.

---

Hi! I am Danni. I have a passion for all things nutrition and how to live a healthy, holistic life with a splash of reality. I have been married for 26 years and have 2 amazing children. Family always comes first and is my why to my devotion to Holistic Nutrition for over 18 years. Like most people, the change happened because of a health crisis. When my Dad was diagnosed with cancer many years ago, I started to read and research the role our food and how nutrition played a role in disease. This led me to go back to school and receive my education on holistic nutrition. My strength is in finding the information and education others because why would I keep all this information to myself. And this is what led my to this weekly newsletter because there is always so much to learn. My goal is to provide you with the information so that to peak your interest to want to learn more and change your health journey in a positive way, one habit at a time.

I want to thank your for your support and I always welcome questions, comments and healthy dialogue. Please consider hitting that ❤ on the end of my posts if you like them and share with others that you may feel are interested in the same topic. Also don’t forget you can support my time and work by subscribing for free or by getting a paid subscription. Paid subscribers do get extra special content monthly. Either way, you will still be getting some amazing content.

---

Now back to the Humble Cow…

According to the website ‘Cattlepedia’ (yes that is a real website), cattle were instrumental in the role of human civilization for thousands of years. Domesticating cattle was significant to human society and agricultural development.

So how did it start?

Domestication of the ‘auroch’ - large wild bovine that roamed across Eurasia and North Africa 10,000 years ago and created 2 lineages, the taurine cattle and the zebu cattle. This was spread across regions and each lineage adapting to various climates and environments which shaped the genetic makeup of todays cattle herds across the globe.

6500BC, Europeans farmers brought cattle to their land but cattle did not reach the Americas until the 15th/16th century. Domestication of cattle impacted farmers and agricultural methods where farmers used cattle to help plow fields and enable more efficient crop cultivation. This lead to an increase in food production and supported growing populations. Along with the aiding in crops, cows provided meat, milk, and leather. As the cattle herds grew, so did the need for more grazing land. This created communities which then shaped human economies. Cattle ownership became the measure of wealth and status of which economic systems initiated based on cattle trading.

As of 2024 it is estimated that there are over 1.5 billion cows globally. These animals provide needed food, nutrients and social development across the world. Yet, they are getting a bad rap based on the narrative that they have increased methane emissions contributing to change in climate, of which I believe to be untrue.

For one to understand the process in more detail, I strongly suggest reading the book - Sacred Cow by Diana Rodgers and Robb Wolf OR watching the docuseries ReThink Meat. Episode 5 explains this very clearly.

Cows are not the bad guys here..

But my focus is on the food and nutrition value cows bring to the table. Cows are so important to health and nutrition and we owe them some props for creating food for our tables that fulfills the human body requirements.

Cows are ruminants. What this means in that cows have 4 separate and different compartments in their stomachs to be able to digest certain foods more completely that humans can not. These 4 compartments set them apart from other herbivores. These 4 compartments allow cows and other ruminant animals such as deer, elk, moose, lamb, goats, and bison to digest grasses and plants without completely chewing it. (humans can not fully digest plant foods due to its high fiber or cellulose content).

So let’s learn how does a cow digest all that grass…

Digestion in the Ruminant Digestive System

A ruminant’s stomach has 4 compartments - rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum and each has a specific job in the digestion process

• Rumen - which is 84% of the stomach, acts as storage for the ‘cud’ (cud is the large indigestible pieces of plant matter that is regurgitated and swallowed twice before moving through the digestion process). The rumen facilitates fermentation with bacteria and microbes present and these micro organisms digest the cellulose and other plant starches. Cows spend almost 40% of their time chewing the cud and can make 80 quarts of saliva in a day!

• Reticulum - structured like honeycomb this compartment holds the heavy objects that get in the feed like rocks debris and large feed particles that can not be digested. The reticulum facilitates regurgitation and is also comprised of specific bacteria for digestion.

• Omasum - is a globe shapes compartment lined with large leaves and folds. This is where the absorption of water and and other substances happen

• Abomasum - sometimes called the true stomach, operates very similar to a non ruminant stomach and is lined with glands that release hydrochloric acid (HCL), and digestive enzymes to further breakdown the feed and plant material.

How the Digestive System Works in a Cow & Other Ruminants | Pro Earth

From here the digested food hits the small intestine where the microvilli absorb most of the nutrients the cow requires. Most fat digestion and absorption occurs in the small intestine as well. Cows absorb more saturated fat than simple-stomach animals. This is because rumen microbes change unsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids by adding hydrogen molecules. Lets think about that statement - cows absorb more saturated fat than simple stomach animals (humans). Their cholesterol must be through the roof! Why aren’t they dying of heart disease??

Did you know that when a calf is born, it is basically a non ruminant animal. It has all the anatomy, but since it feeds primarily on milk from its mother, only the abomasum is functional. The other chambers are present but under developed until the calf converts to eating grass.

As explained in very simple terms, the digestive system of the cow is very specific and holds a special purpose to digest grasses and plants and convert the nutrients into a more bioavailable source of essential amino acids, nutrients and vitamins for humans. There is no disputing that plants have important nutrients but our digestive systems are just not built to get the most out of them through digestion. Just like cows digestive systems were not created to eat grains. They pass gas because their gut microbiome and bacteria is not conducive to digesting these foods. It is similar to a human when we can not digest certain foods..We get gassy!

Give The Cow Some Love

Beef from a cow provides so many nutrients, vitamins, minerals and essential amino acids like creatine, carnitine, carnosine, and taurine, that we as humans can not get from eating plants. ( I will be providing more on these nutrients on a later post)

So next time you see a cow just living it life, grazing, chewing and pooping..We need to stop and say thank you for providing so much to our life, social, economically and nutritionally.

Danni