◎ Science and Technology Daily intern reporter Zhang Jiaxin
Speaking of cows, what can you think of? They stare at a pair of big, hollow eyes, drag bulky bodies, behave lazily, and don't get much praise other than providing the milk and meat that most people in the world rely on. But in fact, their existence is far more than just eating enough grass to sit together and ruminate food.
Perhaps we all know that cattle are protected and worshipped animals in Hinduism. Especially in the eyes of Hindus, the cow is a sacred symbol of life and should be protected and respected, so they never eat cows. They also believe that the cow is a particularly generous, docile animal that gives humans more than it gets from humans. Mahatma Gandhi described the cow as "a poem of mercy" and also said that "I worship the cow, and I would rather be the enemy of the world and defend the worship of the cow".
Although we don't worship cows as much as Indians do, and cows are not a legend, cows are indeed quite magical.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > incredible! </h1>
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > cow is truly a magical creature</h1>
Unexpectedly, there are more than 800 different kinds of cattle in the world.
Like humans, cows develop close friendships and even spend a lot of time with 2-4 of their favorite cow friends. And cows are also vengeful and may dislike certain specific cows.
The emotions of the cow will be expressed in a certain way. Cows get excited when it comes to solving problems. When they were faced with the challenge of how to open the door to get their food, their hearts beat faster, brain waves showed that they would be excited, and some cows would even jump. When they are treated better, more milk can be produced.
A cow's gestation period, or the time it becomes pregnant, is 9 months – the same as in humans. Before a cow gave birth to a calf, it was called heifer. After giving birth, it becomes a mature cow. Male cattle are called bulls or steers. Calves, on the other hand, generally weigh about 80 pounds (about 36.29 kg) at birth.
Cows' eyes have an almost 360° panoramic view, which helps them see predators from all directions.
Cows have a good sense of smell, and a cow can smell up to 6 miles away.
The cow's tongue was rough, like sandpaper. It doesn't have upper teeth on the front of its mouth because they're herbivores and don't need to chew as much.
At the top of the bull's mouth is a hard skin pad called a tooth pad. They do have teeth on the back of their upper jaws to help grind food. All cattle spend most of their lives grazing on pastures and other feed. They can eat about 40 pounds (18.14 kg) of food a day.
In addition, cattle are a ruminant.
Rumination, commonly known as inverted chewing, refers to the fact that some animals eat semi-digested food from the stomach and return it to the mouth to chew again after a period of time. The digestive system of ruminants allows cattle to get nutrients from grass, while humans cannot. Through rumination, the cow constantly chews and digests the plants in the stomach again. A cow, on the other hand, has about eight hours a day to "chew" the food it regurgitates. Sheep and deer we are familiar with are also ruminants.
As a ruminant, cattle have four stomach chambers, the largest of which is called a rumen. The rumen contains a large number of methanogenes, about 100,000 methanogenes per milliliter, including multiple genera, which mainly produce methane through four routes. The chemical properties of methane are relatively stable, so it is difficult to be absorbed and digested in the body. As a result, these gases are excreted from the body in the form of hiccups and farts. Of course, methane is also emitted, which has a great impact on the greenhouse effect. The data shows that a cow's greenhouse gas emissions in a year are comparable to the annual emissions of a car.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > associated with cattle</h1>
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > cowpox vaccine, genetically modified cattle, do you know? </h1>
What is cowpox? Cowpox is a viral skin infection caused by the smallpox virus in cattle. Cowpox is similar to smallpox, which is highly contagious and sometimes fatal, but much milder than smallpox. Its symptoms are usually local ulcers in the udder area of cows and can be transmitted to humans through contact.
The cowpox virus got its name from the rash produced by milking women hundreds of years ago when they came into contact with the udders of infected cows. As early as 1770, an English farmer discovered that milking women who had contracted cowpox and recovered would no longer contract smallpox. Through years of research, British physician Edward Chenner found that because the cowpox virus has the same antigenic properties as the smallpox virus that causes smallpox in humans, people can also obtain immunity against smallpox virus at the same time after vaccination with cowpox seedlings. In 1796, Chenna vaccinated patients with the cowpox virus to prevent them from contracting smallpox. This is also the first successful vaccinia vaccination.
According to the CURRENT WHO report, cowpox is now gone globally.
If the average cow is at greater risk of disease, genetically modified technology offers new hope for improving the health of cattle.
Genetically modified cattle, what is different? The scientists inserted one or more additional genes into their DNA. Additional genes may come from the same species or from different species.
Professor Huang Shu frame and her first genetically modified cow "Gush" file photo. Image source: Xinmin Evening News
Mastitis is a common bacterial infection that can cause serious health problems in cows, while genetically modified cows that express staphylococcal enzymes have a greater ability to fight mastitis.
In addition, GM technology can also improve food quality. For example, the milk produced by genetically modified cows has increased levels of β-κ-casein, which are also the main components of cheese and yogurt products.
On March 25, 1999, the Shanghai Institute of Medical Genetics successfully bred China's first transgenic cow. The genetically modified cow, named "Gushing," carries a human serum albumin gene and weighs 38 kilograms at birth. It is now reported that the 'gushing' female offspring can now secrete milk containing human serum proteins, and the content is very high, and the ninth factor can be extracted from milk dozens of times more. ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > to make cows happy</h1>
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > cattle farmers use these techniques</h1>
There have been foreign media reports that Russian farmers have put virtual reality (VR) glasses on their cows in an attempt to reduce their winter anxiety. After all, the cows are happy and can produce more milk. Although this has been questioned by American farmers and experts, the use of VR glasses does allow technology to reduce the carbon footprint of cows and make farm management more sustainable.
Cattle owners have also been working for years to apply new technologies to the management of cattle, from facial recognition of cows to milking robots.
A cow wearing VR goggles is taken to the field in an attempt to improve its mood. Image source: CNN
Today, farmers already use facial recognition to count their cattle, or facial recognition devices can signal cows when they are sick, injured, or not eating. The technology has become another way to keep humans as far away from the pasture as possible, making cows happier and more productive.
Technologies such as wearables and computer vision can help farmers manage their cows in a more personalized way, rather than managing them at the herd-wide level, allowing them to judge cow productivity based on the weight of the milk produced. Wearable devices such as Fitbits have become one of the most widely used technologies for dairy cows by U.S. ranchers, and this wearable tracker is located on the neck of dairy cows and is used for daily cattle health management, reproductive development, etc.
With augmented reality (AR) technology, farmers are not only able to get a holistic view of the farm and all the animals on the farm, but also find specific animals in an AR environment. With smartphones or glasses, certain animals can be highlighted so that farmers can examine them. The technology is still in beta, but there is great potential for future applications.
With the help of technologies such as computer vision, cattle farmers can know which cow produces the most milk. With the further development of technology, people can also judge which cow grows best, which cow has the best feed or water, and so on.
In addition, online milk sensing is another technology that is becoming increasingly popular in the cattle industry. Cainrus, an agritech company based in Dublin and Ottawa, California, is focused on digitizing agricultural practices using computer vision and artificial intelligence. "Some companies are employing spectrometers and scattered spot light techniques to check for any pathogens in milk and monitor how many white blood cells are in the milk and the nutritional quality of the milk." David Hunt, the company's co-founder, said, "A wide range of technologies has made the work of cattle breeders easier and more sustainable, and as there are more advanced technologies in the future, cattle farming will only continue to evolve for the better." ”
Editor: Zhang Qiqi
Audit: Tube crystal