A study of chewing during eating in the cow

Abstract

1. A preliminary study was made of chewing duringeating with a total of sixcows with rumen fistulas, given diets of hay or herbage. A sieving technique was used to determine the size of particles of food swallowed at intervals throughout the eating period. The number of jaw movements, number and weight of the swallowed food boluses and the time spent eating were measured with each diet.2. The mean particle size of hay contained in a bolus collected at the cardia varied between individual cows from 1602 μm to 1244 μm. Boluses swallowed in the first few minutes of eating contained particles of a larger average size than those at any other time during the meal. Also, the rate of swallowing boluses of food was much faster at the beginning of a meal and the weight of boluses smaller than at any other time. The frequency of jaw movements did not vary appreciably during a meal.3. Increasing the amount of hay given to the cows by 50 % or giving a different hay did not cause any significarlt alteration in the average size of particles of swallowed hay, and changes in the rate of swallowing boluses, or in, the rate of jaw movements and the size of boluses were not very marked.4. With a diet of herbage, boluses were swallowed rapidly and the average particle size of swallowed food was larger than that of hay. Also, there were slightly more jaw movements per min and larger boluses than with hay.5. The observations made in the study are discussed in relation to possible factors that determine the particle size of swallowed food.