If the bean curd leaf is the stomach, where is the yellow throat? What about the upper brain? What about the ox eye? What about the three tendons?

From the yellow throat tripe in hot pot, to the hamburger patties in fast food restaurants, from all kinds of fresh milk, yogurt, cheese and butter, to all kinds of leather shoes and bags, more than 1.5 billion cows in the world meet our various material needs. At the same time, we have created various "cows" in the spiritual world to meet our various spiritual needs: from the worship of cows in various religions to the "cows" displayed on the Financial Street by the China Securities Regulatory Commission... But do you really understand cows?

The "cow" of material sustenance丨SpaceMonkey / wikimedia

The "cow" of spiritual sustenance丨pixabay

The domesticated cattle ( Bos taurus ) we have are animals of the genus Bos in the family Bovidae, subfamily Bovinae, tribe Bovis. The cattle and dairy cows we usually refer to are both domestic cattle.

Also belonging to this category is the yak ( Bos grunniens ). Another common "cattle" - the water buffalo - belongs to another genus, Bubalus. The distribution and number of water buffaloes are far less than that of domestic cattle, but the milk produced by water buffaloes has a higher fat content, so traditionally mozzarella cheese and double skin milk are made with water buffalo milk, but now it is common to use ordinary milk instead.

Are we talking about a kind of cattle?

If you ask an American or British child to draw a cow, he will most likely draw a black and white Holstein cow; if you ask a Chinese child to draw a cow, he will most likely draw a brown cow; if you ask an African child to draw a cow, he may draw a cow with very long horns.

Holstein cow | Keith Weller/USDA

Scalper丨wikimedia

African cattle | Richard Du Toit / mindenpictures

There are so many breeds of cattle around the world, and people in different regions prefer specific breeds so much, that it is hard to imagine that they all have a common ancestor - the aurochs .

The aurochs are now extinct, but they were not too far from extinction - the last one is believed to have died in Poland in 1627, and there are still good sketches of them. Archaeological evidence suggests that humans probably began to domesticate aurochs more than 10,000 years ago in what is now Iran. In the days before machine power, cattle provided not only the various meat, milk, and leather mentioned at the beginning of the article, but also an important source of power for farming. Therefore, from a very early time, owning cattle was a symbol of wealth in many cultures, and cattle thieves were also deeply despised.

Portrait of aurochs丨wikimedia

Eating beef was once considered a traitor

Although beef is now a common meat with hamburgers, shabu-shabu, beef rice, sirloin and steaks everywhere, eating beef was considered a treasonous act for a long time in human history (it is still a treasonous act in Hindu countries to this day). In addition to the fact that cattle can plow the fields, another important factor is that they grow meat very slowly.

In India, cows have a very high status丨My Malice and Bias

In animal husbandry, there is a term called feed-to-meat ratio , which refers to the weight of feed required for livestock to grow one kilogram of body weight. Even in the United States, where feeding efficiency is the highest, the feed-to-meat ratio of cattle is generally over 6 (cattle need to eat 6 kilograms of feed to grow one kilogram of body weight), compared to only 1.6 for chickens and 3 for pigs. In other more extensive farming systems, it is not uncommon for cattle to have a feed-to-meat ratio of 10.

Although cattle can eat grass that chickens and pigs don't, traditionally, raising cattle for meat in an environment without a lot of pasture is too much of a burden on the land, so many Asian countries banned slaughtering cattle or eating beef in ancient times. It wasn't until the Industrial Revolution brought machinery that farming no longer relied on cattle power that eating beef gradually became popular, and the breeds of beef cattle raised often came from cattle that used to farm (the term is called draft cattle).

Names of various parts of cattle丨Sa fish

Such pictures can often be seen in Chaoshan beef hotpot restaurants that have sprung up in recent years. There are also similar pictures in various beef restaurants in Japan. If you like to eat beef, you must thank the improvement of animal husbandry technology and the invention of a method of feeding corn and soybeans to cattle to quickly fatten them. The price of beef is now within the reach of ordinary people - if you don't pursue various high-priced marbled beef.

Of course, in addition to beef, the beef heart, beef liver, beef tail, beef tongue, the four stomachs of the cow (tripe), and the aorta (yellow throat) are all popular ingredients. Some Japanese barbecue restaurants also have beef intestines.

Yellow throat can be hot pot, can also be stir-fried | Xiaoyu loves to eat fish / Douguo Food

The story behind a glass of fresh milk

Compared to the low efficiency of cattle in producing meat, the efficiency of cattle in producing milk can be said to be much higher . However, in ancient times when there was no special packaging technology for sterilization, disinfection, refrigeration, etc., fresh milk was a very risky food unless you raised your own cattle (there is a short film called Horrible History, one episode is specifically about the various sewage and feces mixed in milk in medieval European cities). In contrast, foods such as butter, yogurt, and cheese are much easier to store and transport.

Milk丨pixabay

It is also because of the popularity of dairy products in Europe that Europeans still retain lactase in their intestines after adulthood . East Asians, like human ancestors, although can produce lactase at birth, often no longer have enough lactase after adulthood. Drinking milk on an empty stomach, in particular, will make many East Asians feel gastrointestinal discomfort - a symptom of lactose intolerance. If you have such symptoms, you can consider drinking yogurt or sour milk instead.

If you are lactose intolerant, you can choose yogurt丨Salon

In fact, dairy cows themselves have many colors and patterns, but the black and white Holstein is the absolute mainstream. In addition to its high milk production, its bright colors also make it popular among dairy farmers.

Most dairy cows will never have a real sex life in their lives. Every year, female dairy cows are artificially inseminated to become pregnant and produce milk. If the cows born are bulls, most of them will be killed and sold for meat soon. Only a very small number of cows with excellent genetic backgrounds will be kept and artificially semen will be collected regularly after sexual maturity. Dairy cows have 6 nipples and a set of udder rating standards . In addition, dairy cow research shows that the genetic factors of a cow's father will also affect its milk production.

I just want to ask you if you are awesome or not? 丨663highland / wikimedia; pelican & stu_spivack / flickr

Author: Piaopiao37

This article comes from GuokrNature (ID: GuokrNature)

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