Happy June Dairy Month! Around here, June is one of our favorite months because the weather starts getting nice, we host events and we get to celebrate a whole month devoted to dairy!
To kick off June Dairy Month, here are 12 fun cow facts you may not have known.
- Cows are social animals and naturally form herds. Within the herd they have friends as well as cows they avoid.
- Cows have one stomach with four digestive compartments: the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum.
- The average cow drinks about 30 gallons of water per day.
- A cow’s heart beats between 60 and 70 beats per minute.
- An average dairy cow weighs about 1,200 pounds. But their weight and size will vary with breed.
- There are six main breeds of dairy cows: Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Holstein, Jersey and Milking Shorthorn.
- Most dairy animals have their first calf when they are 2 years old; this is when they start producing milk.
- Just like people, cows are pregnant for 9 months.
- When a calf is born, it can weigh 80-120 pounds. The average Holstein calf is about 100 pounds at birth.
- Cows have a great sense of smell and can detect scent from roughly 6 miles away.
- The average cow will eat about 100 pounds of feed per day.
- Cows have 32 teeth, 8 incisors on the bottom front and then 6 molars on the top and bottom. Cows have no top front teeth.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for more cow facts as the month of June progresses.
