Word to describe the way cattle and buffalo consume fodder?
How do you describe the the way cattle buffalo chew ("re-chewing", specifically) their food? There is a specific aspect of their food eating habit which is often related to how people work.
The sought after word is Ruminate - which means:
- To think deeply about something (wrt behavior of human beings), or
- To chew the cud (wrt a ruminant).
Once it's in their mouth (again or not*), they grind it with their molars.
Cow's teeth are different from ours. On the top front, cows have a tough pad of skin instead of teeth. They have 8 incisors on the bottom front and 6 strong molars on the top and bottom of each side to grind their food. Cows have a total of 32 teeth. –moomilk.com
*Ruminants are mammals that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principally through microbial actions. The process typically requires the fermented ingesta (known as cud) to be regurgitated and chewed again. The process of rechewing the cud to further break down plant matter and stimulate digestion is called rumination. The word "ruminant" comes from the Latin ruminare, which means "to chew over again". –Wiki
Ruminate is the word that describes the manner of eating of cows, buffaloes and other animals. The animals that use this method are called ruminants.
Rumination Syndrome — a chronic condition characterized by effortless regurgitation of most meals following consumption.
Taken from Wikipedia.
In the dictionary it's given as the first meaning. The "simple meaning" is to think profoundly.
There's also munch
Eat (something) steadily and often audibly
Source: Oxford Dictionary of English