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How does a cow’s stomach work?

May 4, 2013 Ticia 13 Comments

As a kid I always heard “a cow chews its’ cud,” but I never really knew how does a cow’s stomach work?

Thankfully, after becoming a homeschool Mom and teaching homeschool science I can finally answer this pressing question.

how does a cow's stomach work

I’m sure YOU’VE been sitting there on the edge of your seat for years wondering about.

 

As with most lessons, we started with a book.

 

 

This is the chapter Superman’s been waiting for all year long: the COW chapter.  Okay, the entire chapter isn’t about cows, but enough of it was to make him happy.

After reading the Apologia Land Animals book*, I don’t think the kids quite understood how does a cow’s stomach work, obviously this needed to be solved.

 

So, I set up the card table downstairs, dug out the glitter glue, and proceeded to answer the question: how does a cow’s stomach work?

how does a cow's stomach work preparing paper

 

First I drew up four cows with their digestive system, if I’d planned further ahead than say 2 minutes, I would have drawn one and then scanned it to share with ya’ll, it’s awesome quality……  That didn’t happen.  Then the kids happily colored the non-digestive system parts.

 

parts of a cow's stomach

Then we colored and labeled the different chamber’s of the cow’s stomach.  I had to restrain the kids from coloring more than I did.  You’ll see why it was necessary in a moment.

illustrating how a cow's stomach works with glitter glue

 

Then we got to glitter-gluing* the steps involved.  We ran out of room in the esophagus as the glitter glue was a bit wider than we planned, and we couldn’t fit all the times the food went up and down.

how does a cow's stomach work  first pass of food

 

And here’s the end result.  The cow chews the food and swallows it.  There it passes through the first and second chambers before heading back up to be chewed on some more.

how does a cow's stomach work second pass

 

Then the cow swallows the grass again (called cud once it’s been chewed and swallowed).  The cud passes through the third and fourth chambers to finish digesting.  It’s hard to tell, but there are actually 3 separate lines going through the esophagus as the food would pass back and forth.

how does a cow's stomach work final pass

 

Finally the fully digested food heads down into the intestines where the food is absorbed.  The kids were quite fascinated to learn that the food travels through the intestines and whatever is left becomes poop.  Yeah, so that little bit you see at the bottom there is Superman adding poop from his cow…….

Fell free to say “ewwwwww” I certainly did.

 

And that is our lesson on: how does a cow’s stomach work.

 

But, I was also amused because all of the lines on his cow are blood vessels.  I guess I better start organizing my anatomy board……..

 

If you want some more land animals idea, check out my land animals pinterest board.

 

 

Let’s see what others did this week:

Each week I’m spotlighting a few posts that were shared previously.  Many posts get linked up later in the week and they don’t always get as many clicks as they deserve, so I’m trying to spotlight a few every week.

 

Source: lifewithmoorebabies.blogspot.com via Ticia on Pinterest

 

Life with Moore Babies shared a fun pumpkin growing experiment.  I am SOOOOO doing this when we hit botany, or maybe sooner.

 

 

Source: mumsmakelists.blogspot.co.uk via Ticia on Pinterest

 

Mum makes lists shared 50 things to put in a science kit (most of which are in your pantry).

 

I usually only share 5, but I really LOVE this one from All Things Beautiful, it’s got all of the experiments I’ll try with my kids when we learn about the skeletal system all together.


arts and crafts, science farm, kid crafts, land animals, Science Sunday, zoology

Comments

  1. Ashley says

    May 5, 2013 at 6:33 am

    Thanks for hosting and sharing our Pumpkins! Do you have a veterinary teaching hospital near you? I know the one I went to had an open house every year where they brought in a cow that had a cannula into its rumen, so you could stick your hand inside (with a glove on of course). It was pretty need to feel how it moved everything around, and also very stinky at the same time!

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      May 5, 2013 at 7:30 am

      Hmmmm…… I know there’s a big animal hospital about an hour or so South of us….. I might need to check into that.

  2. Phyllis at All Things Beautiful says

    May 5, 2013 at 7:46 am

    What no picture of mine? {just kidding} Your cow digestive system lesson is quite impressive. I read it aloud to everyone here and we all enjoyed it.

    Reply
  3. Lula B says

    May 5, 2013 at 2:54 pm

    I had always wondered how the four stomachs thing worked – thanks! (Anything that can be learned, can be learned with glitter glue.)

    Reply
  4. iGameMom says

    May 5, 2013 at 3:46 pm

    love the pictures the kids draw. Very well put together. Now I have something to talk about with son about cow.

    Reply
  5. Claire says

    May 6, 2013 at 1:49 am

    You do realise you are effectively giving online lessons to all your readers and not just your children? Great lesson, I only wish I’d been their to join in with the glitter glue!!

    Reply
  6. Natalie says

    May 6, 2013 at 9:51 am

    This is a cool lesson! Love detailed anatomical drawings 🙂 Sorry I’ve been so MIA lately – work has been totally brutal. Hopefully it’s better from now on!

    Reply
  7. maryanne @ mama smiles says

    May 7, 2013 at 10:56 pm

    I am impressed by your cow drawing ability!

    Reply
  8. Andrea @ No Doubt Learning says

    May 9, 2013 at 8:12 pm

    Great lesson idea! My 4 year old daughter LOVES cows. She’s been mooing for almost 2 years…(ugh). I’m sure she’d love this lesson. I’m pinning it to my cow board now 🙂
    ~Andrea

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      May 9, 2013 at 9:51 pm

      If she’s a huge fan, then did you see the cow experiment for “milking a cow” linked up 2 weeks ago? I had meant to do it, but didn’t get a chance. I featured it last week.

    • Andrea @ No Doubt Learning says

      May 9, 2013 at 9:56 pm

      No I was on vacation and missed it! Just checked it out and we milked cows using rubber gloves last summer. Both my kids had a blast – what fun! https://nodoubtlearning.com/2012/08/26/daily-schedule-and-the-cows-took-over/

    • Ticia says

      May 9, 2013 at 10:39 pm

      Your handprint cows are so cute! I pinned them to my land animals board, there’s no such thing as too many cow posts according to my son.

Trackbacks

  1. Robins Lapbook and Backyard Birds unit | Homeschool Discoveries says:
    May 7, 2013 at 10:46 pm

    […] Linking up with Science Sunday @ Adventures in Mommydom! […]

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