[Music] [Music] [Music] ruminants are a large group of animals within the hoofed animals or artiodactyls they're an important part of food chains over the world due to their unique digestive systems while all herbivores draw energy from plant life ruminant animals have a sophisticated digestive system that uses fermentation to help access energy in their diet many agricultural animals are ruminants including cows sheep and goats the ruminant diet consists of forages and roughage digestion reduces the nutrients in food to simple materials for easy absorption these are used for energy and the building of tissues the digestive system runs from the mouth through to the anal canal its function is to take food grind it digested absorb the nutrients and eliminate the solid waste products that result from the process feed is broken down as it passes through each organ with nutrient absorption beginning almost immediately the ruminant digestive system can be broken into five main parts the mouth esophagus four-chambered stomach small intestine and large intestine each of these parts contributes to the breakdown process digestion is also helped along by the pancreas and the gallbladder but these are not directly connected to the primary digestive system remanent digestion is both chemical and mechanical the process begins in the mouth ruminants have large molars and premolars for grinding they also work feed against the top of the mouth as the animal choose the mouth increases saliva production the saliva begins the chemical breakdown process it also helps create a buffer that is important later in the digestive process as the feed and saliva mix everything comes together to form a slippery mess when the animal swallows the food slides down the esophagus the esophagus is a muscular tube that aids digestion and movement through a squeezing motion is known as Paris Tallis in ruminants the esophagus is bi-directional this means that while the food usually goes downward towards the rest of the digestive system it can also be sent back up food that is not properly chewed is regurgitated up into the esophagus and back into the mouth this partially chewed food is known as the cud when an animal chews its cud the cud is broken into smaller pieces and mixed with more saliva until it's more digestible this new slippery mass is sent down the esophagus again after the esophagus feed passes into the stomach a ruminant stomach has four chambers these chambers are the rumen the reticulum the omasum and the abomasum [Music] the rumen is located on the left side of the body it's the biggest chamber in the stomach the rumen has two key functions storage and fermentation despite its large size the rumen isn't just full of all feed it also holds large quantities of saliva to help continue the digestive process mixed in with the saliva our healthy gut microbes which help break down and ferment collected material this microbial action is vital to the process as it breaks down cell walls making the food's energy content more accessible the rumen works through both mechanical and chemical digestion involuntary muscle contractions help churn the feed while microbes and saliva break everything down these processes along with the animals consistent food intake makes the material in the rumen into three layers gases up at the top today's food in the middle and yesterday's food at the bottom closest to the entry to the next chamber the longer the material stays in the rumen the more it breaks down like the esophagus the rumen is bi-directional this is because the rumen and reticulum are not truly separate there is a small fold between the two lighter material is often flushed back up into the room while heavier material is pushed into the next chamber water also flows through the rumen this helps to keep everything moving [Music] the room and also plays a role in nutrient absorption lined with small projections called papillae the rumen has remarkably a large surface area allowing for high rate of nutrient absorption the reticulum is the stomach second chamber also known as the honeycomb this small pouch is lined with networking tissue that looks like honeycomb although nutrient absorption continues in the reticulum its primary purpose is transitional the rumen breaks larger pieces of food into smaller pieces the reticulum collects these smaller pieces when the feed is too big the reticulum contracts regurgitating this cud and sending it back through the rumen up into the esophagus and finally into the mouth for further chewing because the rumen and the reticulum are separated only by a small fold of tissue they sometimes are referred to as the reticular the third chamber of the stomach is known as the amah 'some the AMISOM varies in size according to the animal cattle have a particularly large Amasa m-- shape like a ball the amah some is lined with long leaves of tissue like the pages of a book the Emerson's primary purpose is to reabsorb water some nutrient absorption also occurs in the Amasa when harvested and sold by butcher this is sometimes referred to as tripe leaf tripe or book tripe [Music] the first three chambers are also remarkable because of their surface area although the tissues are different each chamber has projections or structures that increase the surface area hence the ability to absorb nutrients or moisture this is important because of herbivorous diet is less energy dense than the diet of a carnivore or omnivore increased surface area over the first three stomach chambers means ruminant animals maximize nutrient and energy absorption together these 3 chambers have predigested the feed the microbial action has broken down cell walls releasing nutrients and making everything easier to process by the time feed leaves the amah some it is quite small the fourth and final chamber of the ruminant stomach is called the abomasum sometimes known as the true stomach the abomasum is similar to the human stomach it produces highly acidic gastric juices and enzymes to break food down even further the small size of the predigested food particles means that it's easier to coat them with gastric juices the next stop on the digestive journey is the small intestine this is where all major nutrient absorption happens the small intestine is lined with finger-like projections called villi this increases the overall surface area in the small intestine improving the efficiency of nutrient absorption nutrients pass out of the small intestine through the villi and finally into the blood and lymph enzymes from the pancreas and gallbladder help the small intestine process the feed feed is continually moved along via Paris stylist [Music] finally the remaining material passes into the large intestine any remaining water is absorbed here before waste materials are passed the large intestine also has a small number of microbes to help draw out any remaining nutrients any remaining material passes out of the large intestine and is stored in the rectum until it's passed out as a stool [Applause] [Music]