The stomach of a cow consists of four chambers, namely the rumen, reticulum, rumen, and rumen. Feed flows through these four gastric chambers in sequence, with a portion returning to the oral cavity for chewing before entering the epigastric region. These four gastric chambers are not connected in a straight line but exist in a staggered manner.

Observation of changes in the digestive system of calves using B-ultrasound in imported cattle

The digestive system of calves is significantly different from that of adult cows. The relative volume of the true stomach in newborn calves is relatively large, accounting for about 60% of the total volume of the four stomachs. When imported cattle are measured by ultrasound, it is easy to observe that the true stomach has a large volume, while the rumen, reticulum, and flap stomach have small volumes and underdeveloped developmental functions.

After 3 weeks of age, the rumen development rate of calves is relatively fast, and the rumen development is rapid. At 4 weeks of age, the rumen mass accounts for about 58%, the rumen mass accounts for 12%, and the rumen mass decreases to about 30%. The proportion of rumen tumor in 12-16 week old calves exceeds 2/3 of the entire gastric compartment, while the flap stomach still accounts for about 10%. Based on tissue weight, the proportion of each part has reached or is close to that of adult cows, with rumen tumor, flap stomach, and rumen tumor accounting for 67%, 18%, and 15%, respectively.

This change process is well reflected in imported cattle using ultrasound. At the same time, the role of the rumen in digestion gradually decreases, while the digestive function of the rumen gradually increases. At this point, the rumen no longer plays an important role in the digestion of the diet, and its weight increase is only to maintain compatibility with the body's growth. When ruminants reach adulthood, the weight of the rumen accounts for only about 8% of the total stomach weight, while the rumen accounts for about 80%.

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