The larger ruminants have a special role because of their wide distribution throughout the world.
They are animals without much intelligence, but which, nevertheless, render immense service to man: they furnish him with nearly all the meat that he eats: their milk furnish him excellent food; their fat, which harder than that of other quadrupeds and named tallow is applied to many purposes in the arts and domestic economy.
Cattle, sheep, goats and deer are ruminants a type of animal with a four-chambered stomach digestive system that includes the reticulum, rumen, omasum and abomasum.
They have greater digestive capacity to convert cellulose and other fibrous materials into useful products than do non-ruminants herbivores.
In modern meat and milk production, ruminants are often fed high-energy grain feeds like corn to enhance the rate of meat and milk production.
What are ruminant animals?
