Facts About Cows for Kids

Cows provide most of the milk people drink worldwide. It used to take 10 cows to produce the same amount of milk a single cow produces today. Cows need proper care to produce all that milk.

Terms for Cattle

Cow is the name for adult female cattle. Young females are heifers. Male cattle are bulls. All young cattle are called calves.

Cows are Big Eaters

Cows eat between 80 and 90 pounds of grass, hay and feed daily, and drink between 25 and 50 gallons of water. Cows spend six to eight hours eating each day.

Cow Breeds

There are six main dairy cow breeds in the United States: Holstein, Jersey, Guernsey, Ayrshire, Brown Swiss and Milking Shorthorn. Holsteins--the black-and-white cows--are the most common.

Cows Give Us Milk

Like all mammals, cows must have babies before they give milk. Each cow produces more than 100 glasses of milk each day or over 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.

Cow Anatomy Fun Trivia

Cows do not have teeth on their upper jaws. Cows have four-compartment stomachs. Cows can smell something six miles away. Holstein spots are like fingerprints--no two cows are alike.

Surprising Fact

People would have to eat 360 cheeseburgers and drink 400 to 800 glasses of water each day to eat like cows.

References

• Animal Improvements Program Laboratory of the USDA
• Carman Brook Maple and Dairy Farm
• The Organic Cow

Resources

• Dairy Farming Today
• Moo Milk