| scientific wormhole
American farms often have such a scene: the cow has a hole in the body, the foreigner still reaches in from time to time to pull it out, and the cow does not seem to have any discomfort.
Why do foreigners have to make holes in cattle, and often use their hands to dig them, won't cows hurt? In fact, not only the United States, but also many countries have such a situation, which has triggered questions and protests from some animal protection organizations. So, what's going on here?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="43" > cattle have four stomachs</h1>
Cattle have four stomachs, namely rumen, reticulum, flap stomach, and wrinkle stomach, of which the largest volume is rumen, accounting for about 80% of the 4 stomach volumes.
Three of the stomachs do not have digestive glands, which play a role in breaking down the fibrous of forage and absorbing feed water, and only the wrinkled stomach is the real stomach. The wrinkled stomach accounts for about 8%, and the role is the same as that of the stomach of a single-stomach animal, secreting digestive juices and digestive enzymes.
The money belly we often eat is the net stomach of the cow, and the belly hair is staggered like a net; the cow louver that people love to eat is the flap stomach of the cow; if the belly plate is removed, the louver leaves alone are hairy belly.
Cows don't have upper teeth, and some of the feed they eat is unmawked. After the feed is eaten, it is stored in the rumen and then undergoes processes such as rumination and digestion.
Rumination refers to the digestive process unique to ruminants by herbivores who spit food from the rumen into their mouths and chew and swallow it again before digesting it.
Many friends rarely see cattle in their lives, let alone holes. In fact, those cattle that have been dug out of a hole are called "fistula cattle", and the fistula leads to their rumen, and the hole is usually covered by a lid.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="42" why > holes in cows? </h1>
Opening holes in cattle is not to abuse them, but to be examined, treated and studied, a method that dates back to 1822.
At that time, the wound of a sick cow on a Canadian farm had not healed, and the veterinarian adopted a method: implanted a cannula in the wound to allow the pus to flow out.
In 1928, Arthur Frederick Schalk and RS Amadon of the North Dakota College of Agriculture were inspired to develop a method of intubation in the rumen.
Nowadays, bovine rumen fistula installation surgery is an important means to study the digestive function of ruminants, and the installation method includes "two-layer suture legal" and so on.
Usually, the fistula after surgery is covered with a lid to prevent contamination and maintain an anaerobic environment for the rumen. When the condition of the cow needs to be observed or sampled, the expert will open the lid.
The main purpose of installing rumen fistulas in cattle is to study, help improve the digestive health of more animals, and also reduce the use of antibiotics.
Improving the digestion of cattle will also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Methane is more than 20 times more capable of causing the greenhouse effect than the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide, and it is estimated that about 20% of global methane emissions originate from ruminants.
Cow carrying a fart collector
In addition, fistula cattle can also help solve some of the problems of other sick cattle. When other cattle develop digestive tract diseases, veterinarians can take out some semi-digested food in the rumen of healthy fistula cattle, bring out some healthy gut microorganisms, and transplant them into the sick cattle to improve health.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="40" > to dig holes in cattle, won't they hurt? </h1>
Cattle are also flesh and blood, and they will definitely feel pain when they use knives on their bodies, so before the rumen fistula surgery, experts will perform local anesthesia on them, and after the wound is completely healed, the cow will not be in pain.
Rumen fistula is a relatively large operation for cattle, and the cattle undergoing surgery should first fast for 24 hours and water for 6 hours, and then carry out shearing, shaving, Baoding, routine surgical disinfection at the surgical site, and anesthesia.
After the cow enters the anesthesia state, it makes an incision in the 13th rib position on its side, and the rumen cuts another hole to suture the rumen with the skin.
After suturing, a flange is implanted in this hole and can be used when the cow's wound is healed. Postoperative cattle are weak and need to be carefully cared for.
The breeder should place the postoperative cattle in a clean, dry and warm room, clean up their living environment regularly, and monitor whether the cow's feces and body temperature are normal.
The management of the cattle after the operation should be careful, otherwise the cattle may die of severe infection, not only the previous achievements will be abandoned, but the subsequent research will not be carried out.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="33" > is it really good for cattle? </h1>
After the rumen fistula is installed, people can conduct experiments and studies to improve the digestive health problems of more ruminants, and they can also detect and treat digestive tract diseases in fistula cattle in time.
For cattle with recurrent rumen flatulence or accumulation of food, if there is a rumen fistula, then the veterinarian can directly open the lid for treatment without multiple punctures and surgeries.
However, rumen fistula surgery also has certain hidden dangers, such as the rumen window is easy to infect, and the life of cattle may be shortened. In summary, do you think rumen fistula surgery is really good for cattle?
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