ANP 302- RUMINANT ANIMAL PRODUCTION

Ruminant animals are mammals that belong to the order Artiodactyla. They are animals with a complex stomach unlike the non-ruminants that have simple stomach. They eat and digest forages or plant based feed by swallowing it first and allowing it to get moistened in the rumen which is the first compartment of the complex stomach. The swallowed food is later regurgitated by the animal and re-chewed to break down the plant materials for digestion. This process is called rumination or chewing the cud. The cud is a semi-solid and semi-degraded digesta usually in a bolus form which is regurgitated from the reticulorumen of the animal. Examples of ruminant animals are cattle, sheep, goats, camel, water buffalo, giraffes, antelopes to mention but a few. However, we shall limit our discussion in this study to cattle, sheep and goats that are commonly found in our environment.