Why does a cow shit with a tortilla and a goat with peas? The question is funny, but the answer is serious

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:48

Most of the villagers keep livestock, which makes it possible to always have fresh dairy products and meat. Some have cows, while others prefer the easier-to-care-for goats. Not all people think about the physiological characteristics of pets.

And if the townspeople who came to the village are surprised at many things and make unexpected discoveries for themselves, then it was probably the children who, having become closer acquainted with livestock, were the first to ask a ridiculous question about why a cow shits with a cake, and a goat with peas.

Features of nutrition and physiology

Mysteries in nature are many, and sometimes a person does not think about some ordinary things. Do you know why a cow crap with a cake, and a goat with peas? Reasons for the different shape and consistency of excrementgoats and cows lie in some of the physiological characteristics of animals and their food preferences. In the process of evolution, then still undomesticated cows were able to occupy the best pasture places for herbivores - green plains rich in succulent grasses. Goats, on the other hand, were forced to adapt to desert, high-mountain and steppe regions with less food and a lack of variety.

Becoming less fussy about food, goats are careful about the food that enters the stomach. For example, if a cow on natural pastures eats only 150 species of plants out of 800, then a goat from such a variety “does not disdain” 400 species! Moreover, her digestive tract tries to absorb as much water and nutrients as possible from the food she eats. Therefore, the physiological feature of a goat is the size of the intestine, which is 30 times longer than the animal itself, while in a cow it is only 20 times longer. This explains why more liquid cow feces contain 77% water, while dry goat feces contain only 64%. You can guess why the cow shits with a cake, and the goat with peas.

Similar lifestyles of domestic cows and goats

There are many similarities in the way of life of domesticated cows and goats. So, they all spend the night in a barn or barn, and spend the daytime on the pastures of nearby meadows, fields, forests. Both cows and goats are herbivores that feed on grass or hay; both species drink water. In other words, the animals are in approximately the same conditions.

Despite this, their excrement looks a-differently. Walking in the field, it is easy to determine who grazed on it: cows leave flat wide cakes, and goats empty themselves into a bunch of small dense balls up to 2 centimeters in diameter. Livestock manure is practically odorless and similar in composition. So why does a cow walk with a cake, and a goat with peas?

Physiological features of the gastrointestinal tract of cows and goats

The bodies of a cow and a goat are somewhat different. The gastrointestinal tract of a cow does not absorb water from plant foods very intensively, so the digested food simply flows through it into a liquid mass and exits in the form of a puddle of manure, which turns into a cake when dried.

The digestive tract of smaller livestock - goats - almost completely absorbs water from the food they eat. Its remains, moving through the intestines, acquire a rounded shape, therefore, after emptying the animal, waste products remain in the form of separate dry dense balls. This is perhaps the most correct explanation of why a cow crap with a cake, and a goat with peas. Can there be other explanations for this fact?

Another possible reason

The following explanation of the differences in the shape and consistency of cattle manure is interesting. So, some scientists consider one of the reasons why a cow shits with a cake, and a goat with peas, elementary safety.

Judge for yourself: initially, goats and rams spend most of their lives galloping over high mountains and sheer cliffs. And, perhaps,nature specifically provides for their droppings to be dry and small, because this will save animals from the risk of slipping on their own feces and dying, falling into the abyss. Well, such a version has the right to exist.

Do they use livestock dung?

So, we know that a cow walks like a cake, and a goat like peas, and even studied some of the physiology of these animals. I wonder if man has learned to use cattle dung or just disposes of it?

Manure is a valuable organic fertilizer for agricultural and indoor plants. It is pre-compacted, dried and stored under certain conditions in manure storage facilities. In addition, the collected feces of cattle are even today used in construction, biogas production, paper production and as fuel. To feed indoor flowers, manure is diluted with water, slightly reducing the concentration of substances contained in it.

Why is manure considered the best natural fertilizer? Because in addition to water and organic matter, it contains nitrogen, potassium, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium. This is such a valuable product - manure! So if anyone asks you why a cow shits on a cake, and a goat on peas, you will find a worthy answer to this childishly funny question.