Do cows make ice cream?

Humans are considered "monogastric," which means they have one stomach compartment. Cows are "ruminants," which means they have a four-part stomach. Cows are able to eat things that humans can't, such as grass and hay, and turn them into things humans can eat, such as milk and meat. The four compartments in a cow's stomach are the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum.

Yes, milk is considered an important part of a healthy diet. Milk provides lots of calcium, which is important for healthy bones. But milk also provides potassium, phosphorous, protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, and Niacin, along with many other important vitamins and minerals. Plus, milk is delicious!

Milk is used in thousands of products you might know and love. All "dairy products" have milk in them. Cheese, yogurt, ice cream, cottage cheese, whipped cream, butter, sour cream, and buttermilk are all popular dairy products.

The top milk-producing states are: California, Wisconsin, Idaho, New York, and Texas. In Illinois there are over 400 dairy herds with around 80,000 dairy cows. Illinois ranks 22nd in the nation for milk production.

No, brown cows do NOT make chocolate milk! All milk is white, but some has other flavorings, such as chocolate, added at the dairy plant to create new milk products. Many people think of black and white cows when they think of dairy cows, but there are seven different dairy cow breeds in the U.S. Some breeds produce a lot of milk; other breeds produce milk with a lot of butterfat. But not matter their color, all dairy cows produce white milk!

Milk goes through an important process called pasteurization. This process involves heating up and then quickly cooling down the milk to kill potentially harmful bacteria and protect the milk's purity and flavor. The process of pasteurization was originally invented by Louis Pasteur in 1862.

No, cows produce milk. But, once this milk is collected, it can be turned into a wide variety of dairy products that we enjoy every single day.