How much milk is in a cow udder?

Answer 1

The cow's mammary gland is called an udder. Mammary glands produce milk to nourish the baby calf. Mammary glands develop in the heifer prior to birth, and further develop and grow when the heifer is pregnant. Cells in the alveoli of the udder differentiate from other types of cells to be able to secrete milk into the alveoli cavity. Since there are many alveoli (singular: alveolus), all the milk that has been secreted from the cells into the alveoli empty into ducts and subsequent larger ducts which further lead to the gland or milk cistern where all the milk is collected until it is time for milking or for the calf to drink from.

The precise detail of how the udder develops in the cow is very complex, involving which cells differentiate in what way, growth and differentiation of the alveoli, expanding of the udder as the heifer gets closer to parturition, and milk secretion and synthesis. The general details posted above are as good as lay-men terms as I could make them.

Answer 2

Cows have udders because they are warm-blooded mammals, and as female warm-blooded mammals, they need an anatomically advantageous organ where they can produce what is termed "lactic fluid" to feed their offspring with. Young mammals rely on their mothers for nourishment--hence the milk--for the first few days or weeks or months of their lives, depending on the species, because such young animals cannot readily and independently forage on their own immediately after birth.

For a cow, to have an udder means to have an organ from which milk for her young can be produced and the calf can get his source of nourishment from on a regular basis. A calf will nurse from his dam at least 5 to 6 times a day, but never will the calf take all the milk from his dam in one suckling. The udder of a cow is morphologically and physiologically similar to the breast of a woman from where she suckles her baby from (which is called "breast-feeding"), but anatomically and structurally different, as the udder of a cow is located between her legs whereas the breasts of a woman are located directly on the chest.

Answer 3

When a heifer is pregnant with a calf, the mammary tissues that have come about when she was a calf herself in her mother's womb, begin a further process of growth and maturity, which is encouraged by hormone production, especially during the last few weeks of gestation. The udder forms because milk needs to be produced in order to feed her calf, and the udder has just about completed growth when the heifer gives birth. However the heifer's udder doesn't complete growth until she's a mature cow.

Answer 4

It depends on the breed. Milk cows like the Holstein typically have twice to three times as much milk as beef cows do. Angus cows milk better than Herefords; Simmentals milk better than Charolais.

Answer 5

It synthesizes and stores milk until it is time for the milk to come out either by stimulation from the milking machine or by hand or by the scent and suckling action of the cow's calf.

Answer 6

1: NO

2:but in the movie barnyard the director did it for the laughs

Answer 7

Yes.