We love our cows, it’s true. And we never grow tired of sharing how incredible these animals are, and how their relationship with the grass and soil is natural and closely linked. The quality of milk is a direct reflection of the quality of the diet a cow eats. When a cow eats a diet filled with grain and fillers, the milk they produce has a different taste, texture, and nutritional value than when a cow eats a diet of the food nature intended them to eat: grass.
We think the quality of the milk produced on a 100% grass-fed diet is proof enough, but if you take a closer look at the anatomy of cow digestion, you can see they’re truly designed for grass, not grain.
Understanding the Cow Digestive System
What Does the Rumen Do?
What Does the Reticulum Do?
What Does the Omasum Do?
Understanding the Cow Digestive System
Cows are ruminant animals, which means they have a specialized stomach designed to efficiently break down fibrous plant material like grass. Like giraffes, deer, antelopes, sheep, goats (to name a few), cows naturally are herbivores, which means they have lots of roughage to digest. Unlike monogastric animals, like humans and pigs, they have a complex stomach structure to help them break down the fibrous plant life that they eat all day and extract maximum nutrients from plant-based diets.
Cows’ ruminant digestive systems are incredibly complex. The rumen is an oxygen-free organ that enables microbial fermentation to break down the grass they eat and make essential nutrients like B vitamins and amino acids, which the cow can use. In humans, fermentation in our stomachs is a bad sign– for cows, it’s necessary for their digestive systems and nutrition.
Their stomach system is divided into four compartments: the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. Each part plays a special role in breaking down food, especially fibrous plants like grass.
What Does the Rumen Do?
The rumen (which is where ruminant animals get their name) is the biggest part of the stomach system, and can hold a whopping 50 gallons of partially digested food. Imagine a giant fermentation tank filled with millions of tiny microbes—bacteria, protozoa, and fungi—that help break down the tough cellulose in plant cell walls by producing an enzyme called cellulase that breaks down cellulose into simpler sugars. These sugars are then fermented into fatty acids, which provide a big part of the cow’s energy needs. The microbes in the rumen are incredibly adaptable and can adjust to different diets, so cows can eat a variety of plants, which means that cows can thrive in many different environments, climates, and seasons that bring various kinds of grasses.
What Does the Reticulum Do?
Next to the rumen is the reticulum, which acts like a little helper to the rumen, with a honeycomb structure that catches bigger food particles that need more chewing.
What Does the Omasum Do?
The omasum looks like a globe that contains many leaves of tissue– think pages of a book– and it helps absorb water and nutrients from the food, while also breaking it down before it moves to the next stomach chamber. The omasum is really good at soaking up nutrients and proteins after grass is further broken down by the microbes in its chamber. The large surface area and the time food spends in the omasum ensures the cow gets the most out of what it eats. After the omasum, food travels to the abomasum. The abomasum is often referred to as the “true stomach” of a cow, which is where gastric juices are released that break down proteins and turn them into nutrients that the cow can absorb.
As you can see, a cow’s digestive system is like a finely tuned machine designed to get the most out of a 100% grass-fed diet – something you can see in the cows, and taste in their milk. With its multi-chambered stomach, special microbes, and processes like cud chewing and efficient nutrient absorption, cows can turn tough, fibrous grass into the nutrients they need to thrive. And that’s why 100% grass-fed milk is so nutrient-dense, creamy, and delicious. It’s the way nature intended, and that’s the way we do it.
At Maple Hill, we’ve been committed to regenerative practices since 2009 because we know the highest quality dairy begins with the health of soil, grass, and cows. We believe that 100% grass-fed organic dairy farming done right is the pinnacle of organic, nourishes families with the best nutrition, and leaves the earth better than we found it. We are proud to be selected as a USDA Climate Smart Partner — supporting the production of climate smart commodities throughout the United States.
Our 100% Grass-fed Organic dairy products include: 100% grass-fed whole milk, 100% grass-fed 2% reduced fat milk, 100% grass-fed butter (salted and unsalted), 100% grass-fed kefir (plain, vanilla, and strawberry), 100% grass-fed greek yogurt (plain and vanilla bean), and 100% grass-fed cream-on-top yogurt (plain and vanilla).
