Intro to Ruminants

Question 1

What is a ruminant?

Answer 1

A hooved animal capable of acquiring nutrients from pant-based food by fermenting if in a specialized stomach prior to digestion

Question 2

What are some ruminant animals?

Answer 2

-Cattle
-Sheep
-Goats
-Bison
-Deer
-Moose
-Elk
-Giraffes

Question 3

What are the 3 characteristics of a ruminant?

Answer 3

Hooved, no upper incisors, prey animals

Question 4

What kind of hooves do ruminants have?

Answer 4

Cloven hooves (split) with 2 weight bearing toes on each foot

Question 5

What kind of dental setup do ruminants have?

Answer 5

Lower incisors, upper dental pad consisting of a hard palate of cartilage that opposes the lower incisors

Question 6

What are the 4 stomach compartments of ruminants in order?

Answer 6

-Rumen
-Reticulum
-Omasum
-Abomasum

Question 7

What makes up the forestomach?

Answer 7

-Rumen
-Reticulum
-Omasum

Question 8

What is the ‘true stomach’?

Answer 8

Abomasum

Question 9

Ruminant digestion maximizes the extraction of…?

Answer 9

Nutrients from complex carbs (ie. fiber)

Question 10

Ruminants will grab food and swallow it without…?

Answer 10

Completely chewing it

Question 11

Where does fermentation begin?

Answer 11

The rumen

Question 12

What is the rumen referred to as?

Answer 12

The papillary stomach

Question 13

The rumen takes up…

Answer 13

Most of the left side of the ruminant animal

Question 14

Food undergoes what in the rumen?

Answer 14

Anaerobic fermentation by microbes

Question 15

What are the microbes in the rumen?

Answer 15

Protozoa and bacteria

Question 16

What does the rumen produce?

Answer 16

-Volatile fatty acids
-CO2
-Methane

Question 17

Rumen contractions work to…

Answer 17

-Mix food with fluid from the reticulum and rumen
-Reguruate food
-Eradicate gasses produced during digestion

Question 18

What is rumination?

Answer 18

The process of regurgitating food in ruminants

Question 19

The rumen and reticulum work together as a unit to…

Answer 19

Further digest fibrous material by rumination

Question 20

Food moves from the rumen to the what as it is ruminated?

Answer 20

The reticulum

Question 21

What happens during rumination?

Answer 21

-Animal regurgitates digested food
-Animal rechews and re-salivates food
-Animal swallows food back to the rumen

Question 22

How long does an adult cow on a hay diet spend on ruminating?

Answer 22

8 hours per day

Question 23

What is ruminating also called?

Answer 23

Chewing their cud

Question 24

What are volatile fatty acids responsible for?

Answer 24

70% of the ruminant’s energy supply

Question 25

What are some of the volatile fatty acids produced in ruminant digestion?

Answer 25

-Acetate -Butyrate -Propionate

Question 26

What lines the rumen?

Answer 26

Papillae

Question 27

What are papillae responsible for?

Answer 27

Absorbing VFA's so they can be converted into energy

Question 28

What is the reticulum also called?

Answer 28

The stomach with a net

Question 29

Where is the reticulum in the body?

Answer 29

Cranial to the rumen

Question 30

What does the reticulum do?

Answer 30

Continues fermentation and acts as a functional unit with the rumen

Question 31

What kind of lining does the reticulum have

Answer 31

Honeycomb lining

Question 32

Describe the strcuture of the omasum

Answer 32

Hard and firm

Question 33

What does the omasum do?

Answer 33

Site of water absorption

Question 34

What is the abomasum?

Answer 34

The glandular stomach

Question 35

What is the most simular part of a ruminant to a monogastric stomach?

Answer 35

The abomasum

Question 36

What does the abomasum do?

Answer 36

Where the site of protein and microbial digestion begins

Question 37

What are the benefits of the ruminant digestive system?

Answer 37

-Allows animals to consume large amounts of food without chewing -Conversion of waste products to high-value sources of protein -Produces B complex vitamins -Utilizes plant materials that are indigestible to humans (ie. cellulose) and turns them into high-quality digestible protein (milk and meat)

Question 38

How does an immature ruminant work?

Answer 38

-Ruminants are not born with a functioning rumen so... -They function as non-ruminants for the first 2-3 months of life -Shunt milk past the rumen and reticulum to the omasum directly

Question 39

What are cattle?

Answer 39

Ruminants belonging to the scientific category bovine

Question 40

What is the genius of cattle?

Answer 40

Bos

Question 41

What is a bos taurus?

Answer 41

European breeds

Question 42

What is a bos inducus?

Answer 42

Tropical breeds

Question 43

Breeds are further categorized as...

Answer 43

Dairy and beef breeds