The Digestive systems of
Farm Animals
Tiffany Reid
Answer true or false for each statement
• The crop is responsible for storing food
ingested by birds ______
• Cattle and pigs are examples of ruminants.___
• Ruminants have a single compartment
stomach______
• Birds use their teeth to grind food______
• The digestion process ends in a similar way for
all farm animals.________
Objectives
1. To define digestion
2. Explain the functions of the parts of the
digestive system of :
• monogastric digestive system
• Avian digestive system
• Ruminant digestive system
• Psuedo-ruminant digestive system
Objectives (cont’d)
Describe the process of digestion in:
• A monogastric animal
• An avian
• A ruminant
• A psuedo-ruminant digestive system
What is Digestion?
• This is the process of making food absorbable
by breaking it down into simpler chemical
compounds in the alimentary canal.
• Animals have to break down the food they eat
to be able to utilize the nutrients in the food
Name the different classes of digestive systems
found in farm animals:
• Monogastric
• Avian
• Ruminant
• Pseudo-ruminant
Monogastric digestive system
• A monogastric digestive system has one
simple stomach. Example: pig
• The digestive system of a pig has five (5) main
parts:
• Mouth
• Oesaphagus
• Stomach
• Small intestine
• Large intestine
Digestion in Pigs
• The mouth is where the food enters the
digestive tract and where mechanical break
down of food begins.
• The oesaphagus is a tube which carries the
food from the mouth to the stomach.
• The stomach is the section of the digestive
tract where chemicals are added to the food.
These chemicals help to break down food into
smaller particles of carbohydrates, proteins
and fats.
• Some particles are absorbed from the
stomach into the bloodstream. Other particles
which the stomach cannot absorb pass to the
small intestine.
• The first part of the small intestine is called
the duodenum.
• Secretions from the liver and pancreas are
added to the food in the small intestine. These
secretions contain enzymes that complete the
digestion of fats, carbohydrates and proteins.
• Most food nutrients are then absorbed in the
second and third parts of the small intestine
called the jejunum and ileum.
• Undigested nutrients and secretions then
pass to the large intestine.
• The main function of the large intestine is for
the absorption of water.
• It is also a reservoir for waste materials that
make up the faeces.
Avian digestive system
• This type of system is found in poultry such as
chickens, ducks and geese
• The main parts of the poultry digestive system
are:
• Beak
small intestine
• Oesophgus
caeca
• Crop
cloaca
• Stomach (proventriculus)
• Gizzard
• The beak is used to break up food into smaller
pieces so that the birds can swallow it.
• The crop is a thin walled sac for storing and
soaking the food.
• The proventriculus also known as a glandular
stomach is a tube-like area that produces a
large amount of digestive juices.
• The food then goes to the gizzard. The gizzard
is a muscular organ which grinds the food up
into small pieces.
• After grinding the food then goes to the small
intestine. The small intestine is the site of
most of the digestion and absorption of
materials
• At the end of the small intestine are several
intestinal caeca which store bacteria which
are essential in the breakdown of cellulose.
• The birds digestive tract ends in the cloaca
where fecal material is collected before it is
expelled through the vent or anus.
Digestion in Ruminants
• A ruminant digestive system has a large
stomach that is divided into four
compartments. This system is found in cattle,
sheep and goats.
• Parts of ruminant digestive system:
• Mouth
oesophagus
• Rumen
reticulum
• Omasum
abomasum
• Small intestine
large intestine
Digestive System of a Ruminant
• Cattle swallows its food without chewing. It
enters the rumen.
• Rumen
- acts as a storage organ.
- Cellulose-digesting bacteria breakdown the
cellulose in the grass.
- Sends partially digested grass into the
reticulum.
• Reticulum
- Forms semi-liquid grass into boluses/cuds
- Pumps boluses back into the mouth through
regurgitation
- Acts as a strainer to remove foreign material
• Omasum
- receives the masticated cuds from the mouth
- Squeezes liquid out of the cuds
- The liquid is absorbed into the walls of the
omasum.
- The remaining solids are then pumped into the
abomasums.
• Abomasum
- Produces gastric juices.
- Pepsin breaks down proteins into amino acids
• The food materials then pass to the small
intestines where most of the absorption is
done. Undigested food materials then pass to
the large intestine where water absorption
takes place.
• The remaining undigested material is then
egested from the body through the anus
Digestive system of a rabbit (pseudoruminant
• Rabbits are hind gut digesters this means that
most of their digestion takes place in the large
intestine and caecum.
• Their diet contains large amounts of cellulose
which is hard to digest. This plant material passes
through the stomach until it reaches the caecum.
• The caecum contains large quantities of bacteria .
These help in cellulose digestion.
• The rabbit passes out two types of faeces:
hard droppings and soft black pellets.
• The soft black pellets or “night droppings” are
re ingested to be fully digested in the
stomach.
• The pellets contain approximately 24 %
protein.
Activity
• In which part of the alimentary canal
absorption of nutrients take place?
• What is digestion?
• Name the four compartments of the ruminant
stomach.
• What are the major processes which occur in
each compartment?
• Describe the different types of digestive
systems that can be found in farm animals.
Name 2 farm animals with this type of digestive system.