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The term "ruminating", meaning to muse or ponder, comes from cattle. When they're resting, cattle's four-stomached digestive system, or rumen, permits them to regurgitate partially digested grasses. This wad of partially digested grass is called the cud. Cattle can often be seen resting quietly chewing their cud, otherwise known as ruminating.
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Water
As well as high quality feed, cattle need high quality water to thrive, reproduce well and grow. A mature beef animal will drink between 35 and 66 litres (eight to 15 gallons) of water each day, depending on the temperature. The average Canadian uses 350 litres (77 gallons) of water each day, or as much water as five to nine head of cattle. It's in the farmer's best interests to ensure that water is maintained in good quality.
On pasture, cattle will have access to water from streams or ponds, manmade dugouts (which collect snowmelt), or it will be pumped from underground into a trough. Winter feeding sites, where hay is provided to cattle, will often be located away from natural water sources both to prevent manure buildup near the water source and to encourage cattle to move about and utilize all the pasture.
Cattle farmers and ranchers are experimenting with methods of encouraging less direct access by cattle to water sources, and many have adopted these technologies. When given the option, cattle will tend to water at sites with a solid base that provides good footing. Plastic mesh can be used at the edge of watering sites to give cattle better footing and prevent degradation of the water bank. Pumps can be used to move water into a trough. Research and practical experience is indicating that cattle will often choose to drink from a trough rather than directly from a stream or dugout.
Cattle producers are voluntarily changing management practices to improve water quality for their cattle, themselves and their communities.
Irrigation is not widely used in Canada to produce feed for cattle - in fact, only about one per cent of Canada's total farmland is irrigated, and most irrigated farmland is used to grow food crops for people.
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