A Few Fun Facts About Cows And Free Cow Coloring Pages_44257

Everyone around the world has heard of the farm animal that we refer to as a cow. We all know that cows provide us with milk. The goal of this article is to provide parents, teachers, and other educators of our children with a few fun facts about cows. At the end of this article I will be providing you with a resource for cow coloring pages along with a ton of other coloring page that parents, teachers and other educators can use for entertaining or educational purposes. Every one knows that cows produce milk. That's no big secret. However very few people know that cows are also referred to as the foster mothers of the human race do to the fact that they produce most of the milk that we all drink. According to the history records cows started showing up in America around 1611. The first known documented sighting of a cow was in Jamestown Colony. Around the 1850's nearly every family had their own cow. In 1856 Gail Borden who is now known because of the name on "Borden's Milk" invented the process for condensed milk. Mrs Borden's process removed some of the water from milk so that the milk would take up less space. Finally around 1880 refrigeration was being used, and the first pasteurizing machine was introduced in 1895. Eventually most American farmers began to improve on the dairy making process. Today, a single cow can produce the milk that it once took 10 or more cows to produce. Statistics show that approximately 9.2 million cows are being milked on 110,000 farms in the United States. More than 99% of all dairy farms are family owned and operated. It is a misconception that a cow produces milk the majority of their lives. Nothing could be further from the truth. In all reality a cow only produces milk or should I say could be milked for the first 3 or 4 years. A cow must have a calf in order to produce milk. Calves are fed milk until they are 8 to 9 weeks old. Another cow fact that most people are unaware of is that a cow is 2 years old when she has her first calf. Before milking machines were invented in 1894, farmers could only milk about 6 cows per hour. Today, farmers use machines to milk more than 100 cows per hour. Cows fall in the ruminants category which are cud-chewing Mammals. Sheep and camels also are ruminants. I debated about throwing this next fact in, and then I figured what the heck, why not. A cow chews her own cud, which is regurgitated, partially digested food for up to 8 hours each day. Dairy cows provide 90% of the world's milk supply. The best cows give over 25 gallons of milk each day. That's 400 glasses of milk! U.S. cows give an average of 2,000 gallons of milk per year. That's over 30,000 glasses of milk!