The habitat of the cow. Hungry hole in cows

The domestic cow as a species has been used for many millennia, but who was the ancestor of the cow, because all domesticated species of animals once had wild ancestors and fellows ?! What the ancestor of all cows looked like and where lived is described in this article.

What species is the cow?

The common domestic cow belongs to the artiodactyl family of ruminants, and the name comes from the ancient Greek “keraos”, which means “horned”. A cow is a female of an ordinary bull, which was tamed and domesticated by human ancestors many thousands of years ago. It is interesting that this species of animals at different ages has different names:

A cow is an adult female that has already had a litter.

A calf is a baby of a cow up to 8-10 months.

A heifer or a heifer - this is the name of a future cow that has reached puberty and is ready for mating, or an already inseminated individual.

The bull is an adult male who is also a heifer.

The ox is meant for meat.

When were cows domesticated?

Who were the ancestors of the domestic cow, has anyone wondered? After all, initially all species of animals and birds were wild, and domestic species appeared thanks to the efforts of our ancestors. Cows, or rather its progenitors, already lived on the planet during the Neolithic period, from about the eighth century BC.

The ancient people domesticated this animal after goats and pigs, because in those days people began to gather in vast tribes and lead a sedentary lifestyle. Most likely, they were seduced by the strength of the ancestors of the cow: the first tamed animals were used as draft force, later the opportunity to always have fresh milk for food became another significant factor for the domestication of cattle. Therefore, a person's gaze fell on the then inhabited tour, a wild bull from the bovine family that lived in the territory of present-day Central Asia.

Wild ancestor of the domestic cow

Tur is a powerful artiodactyl, which reached a height of 180 cm (at the withers) and had a weight that often reached a ton, but at the same time the body was muscular, and not swollen with fat. This ancestor of the cow was usually black in bulls, and the females were often brownish or red, but there were also individuals of mixed color. The tur's head was set high on a powerful neck, the horns were sharp and rather long: often more than a meter in length and weighing about 12 kg, they bent like a lyre and rushed forward at the enemy.

These animals ate mainly on leaves and young shoots of shrubs and trees, grass and fallen fruits of fruit trees, lived in small groups, but in winter they often gathered in larger herds, although most predators of this animal were not afraid: an aggressive disposition, powerful muscles and large horns fought back anyone. Only individuals weakened by disease or age could become the object of attack by wolves, lions and other wild animals.

Where did they live?

In ancient times, the ancestor of the cow was found throughout Europe, Asia Minor and even in the Caucasus and North Africa, but by the third century BC. e. in Africa was already exterminated by man. The meat and skin of the auroch fell to the liking of the most dangerous predator of the planet, so by 600 BC there were no tours on the territory of Mesopotamia either.

Are there tours in nature now?

Intensive deforestation in the 9-11th centuries AD on the territory of Europe led to the fact that the tour as a species was significantly reduced and gradually disappeared, on the territory of modern Ukraine tours were still found until the 12th century, and by 1550 they remained only on the territory of Poland, and then thanks to by the decree of Sigismund III, who wished to preserve the aurochs as a species in his reserve. In 1564, only 30 individuals survived in this place, and in 1620 - only one female.

The wild ancestor of the cow as a species ceased to exist in 1627, when the last turitsa died, in Yaktorov (Ukraine) a monolithic boulder with an inscription was erected in her honor. The cause of death of an isolated herd is considered to be a banal degradation of genes, when individuals closely related (father and daughter, mother and son, brother and sister) are crossed. It was obvious that the herd had no chance.

Historians believe that the cause of the mass extinction of tours around the planet was the active and ruthless human activity: on the one hand, economic - deforestation, plowing land for fields, as well as hunting this animal, because in the Middle Ages it was considered prestigious to get the head of this animal. Having survived the Ice Age and more than a million years of evolution, this majestic animal fell under the pressure of an individual, several times smaller than it.

How did the tour become a pet?

In the process of domestication, the tur as a species gradually mutated into a smaller individual, but milk productivity increased, which was one of the decisive factors in the selection of producers. The height of the animals became less by a good half a meter, the weight also decreased by 300 -350 kg, and the horns gradually became shorter, since often a person sawed off their too sharp peaks. At the same time, genetic studies of scientists have proved that cows had more than one ancestor, and domestication began in parallel from several groups in different territories of the planet.

The memory of the ancestor of the cow - the tour still lives among the peoples of Ukraine, there is a proverb "He has a nature like a tour", reflecting the aggressive and restive nature of a person who is not afraid of anything. Also, the word "kick" reminds of this animal, that is, push hard, "kick out" - push followed by the fall of the opponent. According to some versions, a round in chess is a piece named after a wild animal famous for its power and strength. The big one has become one of the symbols of wealth.

Who else is a relative of the tour?

Scientists consider the Lydian fighting bull, which is used in bullfights in Spain and Portugal, as well as the Heck bull, which breeders bred in the 1920s and 1930s in Germany, to be the closest in phenotype to the cow's ancestor. The Heck bull is named after the Heck brothers: Heinz and Lutz, who, at the request of Hitler, were engaged in breeding a breed as similar as possible to the ancient tur. The project was closed during the war, and they tried to exterminate the "fascist cows". Fortunately, a few individuals survived in zoos, which, after 1970, again became the object of research.

Also close relatives of the tour are considered gray Ukrainian cattle, watussi - cattle of Africa, as well as zebu - now living in the territory of Hindustan and nearby lands.

It is a mistake to believe that the present-day and fairly common buffaloes are also descendants of the tour, in fact, they are a separate species. Tour belongs to the order of bull-like, and buffaloes belong to the order of the same name, since their morphological differences do not allow reproduction of offspring: bulls have 60 chromosomes in a cage, and buffaloes have only 58.

Should I be a clone of the tour?

In one of the caves of Derbyshire, in the central part of England, the remains of a cow ancestor were found, which are more than six thousand years old. Several leading institutes in the UK and Ireland have performed extensive genetic analysis and produced the first DNA strand of the tour. Polish scientists intend to use this data to clone an animal, their desire is actively supported by the Polish Ministry of the Environment.

Whether this procedure is necessary for society and whether it will entail the massive cloning of long-extinct animals and birds, scientists do not advertise, while there are suspicions that these experiments have long been carried out under the heading "secret", so as not to disturb the volatile minds of people.

A cow is a mammal from the infraclass of placentals, the order of artiodactyls, the suborder of ruminants, the family of bovids, the subfamily of bulls, the genus of real bulls, the species of wild bulls. A domesticated subspecies of the wild bull ( Bos taurus) is a domestic bull ( Bos taurus taurus), whose female is a cow. The male of this species is called a bull, young animals are called calves. Castrated males are called oxen. Young females that have not produced offspring are called heifers. Productively inseminated (pregnant) heifers are called heifers.

The origin and history of cow domestication

The first mention of a cow as a pet dates back to the 8th century BC, as evidenced by the fossil remains of the animal found in the territories of modern Syria and Turkey.

The ancestor of the wild bull and cow is considered to be the tur, extinct in the 17th century, a primitive wild bull that lived in the steppes of Africa, Asia and Europe. Initially, the domestication of tours was carried out solely for the purpose of obtaining meat. With the development of agriculture, animals began to be used as a labor force, and later for milk and skins.

Cow - description, characteristics, structure of the animal

A cow is a large animal, reaching 120-150 cm at the withers. The average weight of a cow is 750 kg with a minimum weight of 147 kg for small individuals. Some large beef cows can weigh up to 1,300 kg.

The cows are distinguished by a massive elongated body with a characteristic concave back. The pelvic bones are noticeably protruding, the massive thighs have a flattened shape. In a small notch formed by the pelvic bones, there is an elastic, long tail of a cow, ending in a tassel.

The neck of the animal is short and powerful, the head of the cow is large, with a wide, flat forehead, on which dense, curly hair usually grows.

On the head of most breeds there are hollow horns growing upward or sideways, but hornless (hornless) breeds of cows are also found. The height of the horns of a cow depends on the breed.

The eyes of the cow are large, round, with a horizontally positioned pupil, which provides a panoramic view. These animals are characterized by lateral monocular vision, and they perceive colors with central binocular vision, and cows are especially good at distinguishing red and its shades, worse distinguishing blue, gray and green colors.

Also, cows notice any movement very well.

The ears of the cow are short, horn-shaped. Outside, the ears are covered with fine hairs, inside the hair is thick and long. The cow's hearing is well developed: mobile ears turn to the sound source, like locators, and even pick up high frequencies (up to 35 thousand Hz).

The cow has a well-developed sense of smell and taste. Animals perfectly feel various aromas and pheromones, and thanks to the presence of 25 thousand taste buds located on the tongue, they perfectly distinguish sweet from bitter and sour from salty.

The cow is a herbivore, so the anatomical structure of the teeth allows them to chew on various types of vegetation. Young animals have 20 teeth (12 molars and 8 incisors), a mature cow has 32 teeth: 8 incisors for cutting grass, and 24 molars, which serve as food grinding. The elongated and pointed incisors are located on the lower jaw, which makes characteristic circular movements during chewing.

In the groin of the cow is the mammary gland, the udder, which is represented by the left and right parts. These parts, in turn, form the front and back quarters.

Each segment has a nipple 5-10 cm long and up to 3 cm thick.

The cow's skin is covered with short, dense hairs of various shades of black, white, brown or red. The color, in accordance with the breed of the cow, can be of the same color, spotted or striped.

By their nature, cows are herd animals, with a constant dominant hierarchy established within the group. Cows communicate with each other through smells and pheromones, as well as nods and a special turn of the head, which can mean a wide variety of emotions: anxiety, threat, appeal or submission. The mooing of a cow also expresses a certain state of the animal: suffering if the cow was not milked in time, hunger, thirst. The cow mooes to a calf or other member of the herd.

The average life span of a cow is 20 years, but some individuals live up to 35 years. Domestic bulls live 15-20 years.

Cow chewing gum

A cow's life consists of 3 main activities: eating feed, chewing gum and resting.

Chewing gum, or rumination in a cow (from Latin ruminatio - chewing) is an important process, changes in the correct course of which can affect the health of the animal. The fact is that while eating food, the cow swallows it, almost without chewing, but only slightly moistening it with saliva. Entering the rumen (one of the four chambers of the stomach) solid food particles begin to irritate its walls, causing their periodic contractions. This leads to the natural regurgitation of food for repeated, more thorough chewing. In the process of chewing, a cow produces almost twice as much saliva as during the initial chewing, and the composition of saliva also changes: it increases the level of sodium phosphate, as well as bicarbonate, which are so necessary to support the normal functioning of the animal's digestive tract. Rumination occurs cyclically, usually each cycle (there can be from 6 to 12 per day) lasts 30-60 minutes. As soon as all solid particles of feed in the rumen are processed, its walls stop shrinking, and the cow regains appetite and the need for a new portion of food.

How to feed a cow?

The structural features of the cow's digestive system allow her to eat a wide variety of feeds: coarse, high in fiber (hay, straw, twigs and twigs), juicy, which contain a large amount of water (beets, grass, silage), as well as grain crops (grain, meal and cake).

To increase productivity norms, cows need good nutrition, rich in vitamins, minerals and salts, as well as animal feed (bone and meat and bone meal).

In the warm season, on pastures, cows eat large quantities of perennial chaff, hedgehog, fescue, clover, alfalfa, foxtail and arzhanets. The onions, wormwood and colza that got into the cow's menu give the milk an unpleasant aftertaste and suspicious aroma.

In winter, in stalls, cows are fed with various concentrated feeds with a predominance of silage rich in calcium and vitamin D, as well as steamed straw. A significant part of the winter diet is made up of grains (barley, oats,) - an important energy component. The source of sugars and starch is beets and, as proteins, sunflower and soybean meal, bran, as well as brewer's and bread yeast are added to the cow's diet. The main vitamin and mineral supplements are fish oil, wood ash, chalk, carbamide, pine needles, twigs, food salt. The calves are additionally fed with yogurt, oatmeal and linseed jelly are boiled.

Cow breeds, names and photos

Today in the world there are about 1,100 breeds of cows (genetically resistant varieties), bred on the basis of artificial selection and the hard work of breeders.

The modern economic classification of cow breeds includes 3 main areas:

• specialized dairy breeds;
• specialized meat breeds;
• combined breeds (meat and dairy).

Dairy cows

Dairy cows: Ayshir, Angel (Angler), Brown Latvian, Brown Swiss, Gernese, Dutch, Holstein, Jersey, Istobens, Red Danish, Red Baltic cattle, Red steppe, Red-motley, Tagil, Kholmogorskaya, Yaroslavl and Pestraya others.

Below is a description of several dairy cow breeds:

• Ayshir cow

one of the most popular dairy breeds, which is bred in Russia, Finland, Scotland, USA, Canada and Australia and is especially appreciated for the consistency of milk yield. In addition, this breed tolerates cold very well and does not like heat, therefore it is appreciated in the northern regions of Russia. Ayshir cows are distinguished by their graceful constitution, thin legs, straight, broad back, beautiful and light head crowned with thin horns. The average weight of an adult cow is 500-520 kg. The color is red and white. Milk yield ranges from 4000 to 5000 liters, fat content of milk is 4% -4.3%.

old, fat-milk (up to 6%) variety originally from England. It is actively bred in the USA, Canada, some European countries, Australia and New Zealand. In Russia, the breed is bred by the farms of the Moscow and Voronezh regions. Jersey cows are characterized by a squat build (up to 123 cm at the withers). The average body weight of an adult cow is 360-400 kg, and that of a bull is 600-700 kg. The predominant color of the cow is red or light brown.

was bred in the Yaroslavl province in the 19th century. Cows are usually black (sometimes red) in color, with a white head and typical black "glasses" (spots) around the eyes. The belly, bottom of the legs and the tip of the tail are white. The weight of an adult bull varies from 700 to 1200 kg, the cow weighs less - from 450 to 550 kg with a height at the withers of 1.25-1.27 m. The main advantage of the breed is the excellent taste and nutritional value of milk. Today the Yaroslavl breed of cows is most widely bred in the Tver and Vologda regions, as well as in the Ivanovo and Yaroslavl regions.

this is a breed of dairy cows, the first representatives of which were bred in Holland. Today Holstein cows are bred in the USA, Israel, Canada. On the territory of Russia, the breed is popular in the Volga and Far Eastern districts, in Siberia and in the central part of the Russian Federation, in the Urals, in the North-Western and Southern districts. Most Holstein cows have a variegated black and white color, representatives with a red and white color since 1971 have been traditionally distinguished into a separate breed. The weight of an adult cow is 650-750 kg with a height at the withers from 137 to 145 cm. The weight of bulls reaches 1200 kg.

Meat breeds of cows

Meat breeds of cows:

• british origin: Aberdeen Angus, Beefbuild, Galloway, Hereford, Devonian, Dexter, Lincoln, Longhorn, Sussex, Highland, Shorthorn;
• french origin: Limousin, Maine-Anjou, Salerskaya, Light Aquitaine, Charolais;
• italian origin: Chian, Markigian, Piedmont, Romagnola;
• of Russian origin: Kazakh white-headed, Kalmyk, Gray Ukrainian;
• hybrid origin: Afrikander, Bifmaster, Boran, Barzona, Bosmara, Braman, Brangus, Volyn meat, Catalo, Santa Gertrude.

Below is a description of several beef cattle breeds:

• highland cow breed

exotic meat breed of Scottish origin. The breeding stock is widespread throughout the world, but the breed is most actively bred in North America and Australia. The Highlands can also be found in many zoos displaying the breed along with other exotic animals. Distinctive features of the Highland breed are large horns and long, wavy hair in black, red, yellow and dun color, as well as long, wavy bangs that protect the eyes from wind and rain.

• Aberdeen Angus breed

it is a Scottish beef cow, bred in County Aberdeen. This popular cow breed is bred in Russia, England, USA, Argentina, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Massive, heavy and hardy animals have an impressive fat layer, so they can be kept outdoors even in the most severe frosts. The average height at the withers is 120-150 cm, and the weight of individual individuals exceeds 1000 kg. All representatives of the breed are hornless (hornless), and the color of the cows can be black or red.

beef breed developed in 18th century England. The animal is squat, with a barrel-shaped, massive body. The height of a cow at the withers is on average 125-135 cm, weight is 600-700 kg, bulls reach a mass of 800-1000 kg. The color of Herefords is dominated by red, almost all cows are distinguished by a white muzzle, the neck and lower legs of the same color. The Hereford breed of cows is widespread in England and the USA, bred in Australia and New Zealand, and is popular in Canada and Russia.

Meat and dairy breeds of cows (combined)

Meat and dairy breeds of cows: Alatau, Bestuzhev, Brown Carpathian, Yorkshire, Caucasian Brown, Kostroma, Krasnaya Gorbatovskaya, Red Tambovskaya, Lebedinskaya, Montbeliard, Simmental, Blue Cow, Suksunskaya, Sychevskaya, Shvitskaya, Yurinskaya.

• Bluecow (sea cow)

got its name from the blue (or gray-blue) color of the coat. A cow gives 12-15 liters of milk per day. Representatives of the breed are distinguished by good survival in areas of harsh climates and are bred in the Baltic States and Russia. The blue cow is one of the official symbols of Latvia.

bred in Switzerland, it has an optimal balance of meat and dairy performance, and has given birth to many other breeds. Today it is widely divorced all over the world, including in 36 regions of Russia. Large animals grow up to 140 cm at the withers. The weight of an adult cow is 550-650 kg, bulls weigh up to 1300 kg. The color of the representatives of the breed can be either plain, red or fawn, or speckled. Individuals of red color with a white head are often found.

this is a combined, meat and dairy breed, whose homeland is Switzerland. The animal has a brown color with various shades - from mouse-gray to brown tones of varying degrees of saturation. The weight of an adult cow is from 500 to 800 kg, bulls can weigh up to 1100 kg. The breed is characterized by very fast weight gain and excellent milk production. Today the Swiss breed is widespread in Austria, Italy, in Germany, America and Russia.

The stomach of a cow is arranged in a special way - it has four sections or chambers, each of which performs its own function. Disruption of work in at least one of the links of the digestive system entails various pathologies of the animal's health.

Features of cow digestion

Cows have an interesting digestive system - this animal swallows food whole, almost without processing it with its teeth, and then, when resting, belches it up in parts and chews thoroughly. This is why a cow can often be seen chewing. The mechanism of belching and chewing food from the stomach is called chewing gum. If this process stops in a cow, it means that something is wrong with her.

The digestive system of a cow has the following structure:

1. Oral cavity - lips, teeth and tongue. They serve to capture food, swallow and process.
2. Esophagus. Its total length is about half a meter, it connects the stomach with the pharynx.
3. The stomach has four chambers. We will consider its detailed structure further.
4. Small intestine. Consists of the duodenum, jejunum, ileum. Here, processed food is enriched with bile and juices, as well as the absorption of useful substances into the blood.
5. Colon. From the small intestine, the food mass enters the large intestine, where additional fermentation of food and the absorption of substances into the blood takes place.

The structure of the stomach of a cow and its parts

The structure of the stomach in a cow is also of interest - this organ consists of 4 chambers:

• scar;
• mesh;
• books;
• abomasum.

The real stomach in the full sense of the word is the abomasum, the rest of the chambers are used for pre-processing food, they are called the proventriculus. The rumen, omasum and mesh do not have glands that produce gastric juice, only the abomasum is supplied with them. But fermentation, sorting and mechanical processing of feed takes place in the proventriculus. Let's consider the sections of the stomach of a cow in detail.

Scar

The rumen is the first section of a cow's stomach. It has the largest volume in comparison with other chambers - about 200 liters! It is located in the left side of the abdomen. Swallowed food enters this proventriculus. The rumen is filled with microorganisms that provide the primary processing of food.

Reference. The rumen contains a huge number of microorganisms, their total weight is about 3 kilograms. They promote the synthesis of B vitamins and protein in the animal's body.

The scar consists of a double muscle layer and is divided into 2 parts by a small groove. The mucous membrane of the proventriculus is equipped with ten-centimeter papillae. It is in the rumen that starchy compounds and cellulose are broken down into simple sugars. Through this process, the animal receives the necessary energy.

Grid

This section of the stomach is much smaller in volume than the previous one. Its capacity is no more than 10 liters. The mesh is located in the chest area, one section of it is adjacent to the diaphragm. The main function of the grid is to sort the feed. Small fractions of food from here move to the next section of the stomach, and larger ones are belched and enter the cow's mouth, where they are chewed. The grid, as it were, filters the food, passing further along the digestive system the food that has already passed the primary processing.

Book

Small pieces of food are moved into the book - the third section of the stomach. Here food is thoroughly crushed mechanically, thanks to the special structure of the mucous membrane. It consists of folds resembling leaves. In the book, further processing of coarse fiber and absorption of water and acids takes place.

Abomasum

Abomasum is the only part of a cow's stomach that is equipped with glands for secreting gastric secretions. It is located between the 9th and 12th ribs on the right side. Its volume in adults reaches 15 liters.

In calves, the abomasum is actively working, while the rest of the stomach remains unused until almost three weeks of age. Their scar is in a folded position, and milk immediately enters the abomasum along the chute, bypassing the net and the book.

Common pathologies

Cows often suffer from pathologies of the digestive system. They pose a serious danger to the life of the ruminant. Common digestive problems in cows:

• bloating;
• stop;
• blockage;
• injury.

Bloating

Tympania or bloating is a very dangerous condition that occurs due to a sharp change in the diet of a cow, the use of large amounts of food by animals, which contributes to increased gas production. Tympania may result from a blockage in the esophagus. Symptoms:

1. Refusal to eat.
2. Enlarged belly.
3. Lack of gum.
4. Anxiety.
5. In severe cases - shortness of breath, pallor of the mucous membranes.

Attention! This condition is dangerous for the life of the cow, since the increased scar strongly compresses the diaphragm, preventing the animal from breathing normally. If you do not help, the cow will die from lack of oxygen.

Treatments for bloating include:

1. Removal of a foreign body from the esophagus using a flexible probe.
2. Stimulating the stomach to start it up.
3. Use of medicines that prevent gas formation and fermentation - Tympanol, burnt magnesia, activated carbon, ichthyol.
4. In emergency cases, they resort to perforation of the scar with a trocar.

You can start the stomach with massage. It is performed on the left side of the abdominal cavity, in the area of \u200b\u200bthe hungry fossa with a fist. Pouring cold water over this area often helps. The cow needs to run for her stomach to work.

Stop

The digestion process often stops in cows due to improper feeding, for example, if concentrates predominate in the diet or the animal has eaten rotten hay. Stomach also occurs when the esophagus is blocked. Symptoms of pathology: loss of gum and appetite, general depression. If a cow's stomach has stopped, this can be checked. You need to rest your fist in the area of \u200b\u200bthe hungry fossa and listen to whether contractions occur.

Treatment of this pathology begins immediately. The first thing to do is to keep the animal on a starvation diet for 24 hours. In the future, digestible feed is gradually introduced - silage, a small amount of root crops, high-quality hay.

To start the stomach, use:

1. Chemerichnuyu tincture.
2. Gastric lavage.
3. Inside, they give a saline solution, vodka or moonshine to drink (can be diluted with vegetable oil).
4. Scar massage.

Blockage

Sometimes the stomach stops due to the blockage of the book. This happens when the animal's diet is dominated by dry food, bran, or grain waste. The pathology can be caused by sand or mud in the feed. Symptoms of a book blockage are similar to those observed when the stomach stops. It is difficult enough to identify the true cause of the cessation of digestion. For diagnosis, a puncture of the stomach with a needle is used. If it is difficult to enter, then we are talking about the blockage.

If the diagnosis is confirmed, it makes sense to flush the stomach. For this, a solution of sulfate or sodium chloride at a concentration of 10% is used. For the procedure, you will need about a liter of such a solution. To start the digestion process, use the same means that were discussed above - vegetable oil, hellebore tincture, vodka.

Injury

Since the cow swallows the feed unprocessed, dangerous objects often get inside with the food - wire, nails, wood chips, sharp stones. Such foreign bodies can cause serious injury to the animal - to pierce the stomach or pierce its walls. Mesh injuries are often through, sharp objects can touch nearby organs - heart, spleen, lung.

Symptoms of traumatic reticulitis:

1. Anxiety, loss of appetite.
2. Stretching the neck forward.
3. The cow assumes unnatural postures - hunches over.
4. Sometimes the temperature rises by 0.5-1 degrees.
5. The animal feels pain when pressing on the sternum area.

Treatment is aimed at removing the foreign object from the stomach. Metallic foreign bodies are removed with a magnetic probe. If it is not possible to pull out the object, they resort to surgical intervention or the animal is slaughtered.

All parts of the stomach of ruminants perform their function. If even one of them stops working, the entire digestive system suffers. It is important to diagnose the development of pathology in time and start treatment.