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Just for Kidz - Farm Animals |
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Farms are important places. We get most of our food from farms, so without farms there'd be no meat, bread, vegetables or even candy at our grocery stores. We'd have to start growing our own food. There are some farms that have no animals and only grow crops, others have only animals. But many farms have both animals and farms.
Can you think of what kinds of animals might live on a farm? Remember to hold your mouse over the pictures to learn even more things about farm animals.
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Cows come in lots of colours and shapes, but they are big animals. The average cow weighs 1400 lbs. That's about 10 times heavier than most people, so watch your toes when you get close to a cow. We get lots of things from cows. Some cows give us milk, and others give us meat like hamburgers, steak and roast beef.
Only female cows give us milk. The average cow produces 90 glasses of milk every day and up to 200,000 glasses over her whole life.
To make that much milk the cow has to drink 30 gallons of water (about a whole bathtub full of water) and eat 95 lbs of food.
Some yummy foods are made from cow's milk like ice cream, cheese and butter.
When you drink milk you get Calcium and Vitamin D, which are very important for your health.
A cow has four different parts to its stomach. We only have one.
A cow will swallow grass, corn or hay, but then they regurgitate it back into their mouth and chew it up again. This is called chewing their cud.
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A lot of people really love horses because they are fun to ride. Many people keep horses for fun or to race them. But horses used to be used more for work around the farm before farmers started using tractors. In fact, before the car was invented, most people had horses to pull them around in a wagon or carriage.
Most horses have horseshoes on their hooves. The horseshoes protect the hooves from hard surfaces like roads.
When a horse is young, you can tell how old they are by looking at your teeth. Open your mouth and see if anyone can guess how old you are!
A horse's height is measured in hands. One hand is 4 inches or 10 cms. When you measure a horse, measure from the ground to their wither or the highest point on their shoulder.
When a horse moves it has four different paces. It walks, trots, canters and gallops. A walk is the slowest and a gallop is the fastest run.
A male horse is called a stallion, a female is called a mare and a baby a foal. A young male horse is a colt and a young female is a filly.
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Farm Facts
We need farms because that's where most of our food comes from.
Some farms grow crops like corn, wheat and other grains. We need grain for bread and our breakfast cereal.
Have you ever seen an egg with more than one yolk? It's not unusual to get two yolks but sometimes there are more. One egg had nine yolks!
Farms that raise animals for meat or other animal products provide us with hamburgers, milk and eggs.
The spots on a cow are like snowflakes, no two spot patterns are alike.
There is only one true purebred horse: the Arabian. All the rest of the horses have been mix with other breeds in the past.
There are still some wild horses. A wild horse is called a Bronco unless it is from a Spanish country, then it's called a Mustang.
Sheep are easily frightened and like to stay close to other sheep. They don't like to be alone.
There are miniature horses and donkeys that are much smaller than regular horses and donkeys. Some are even as small as a large dog.
We get more than food from farm animals. Hair from pigs is used to make paintbrushes. Leather for our shoes, bags and jackets is made from cow skin, bone china dishes are made from dried bones.
We get sheep wool from sheep. It is spun into yarn and used to make sweaters, socks and other fabrics for clothing or blankets.
Pig hearts are similar to human hearts. Some sick people get pig heart valves put into them to replace their sick ones.
A few farmers raise buffalo for meat. At some restaurants you can even order a buffalo burger to eat.
When there is not enough rain to water the crop it is called a drought. In drought years farmers grow less crops.
People have been raising cows for meat and milk for 5,000 years already.
The average hen lays 250 to 300 eggs in every year.
A pony isn't a baby horse but a small horse. A pony has to be less than 14 hands high. Do you remember how high a hand is?
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Like the cows, we get different foods from chicken. We eat chicken meat and female chickens, or hens, lay eggs that we can fry, scramble or use in baking.
There are more chickens in the world than people. We could all have our own pet chicken and there would still be chickens left over.
The male chicken, or rooster, is the protector of the flock. The rooster will crow early in the morning and attack anything that might harm the chickens.
Eggs in the store are usually white but chickens can also lay eggs that are brown, blue or green.
Donkeys are related to horses but they tend to be smaller. They are friendly animals that can be ridden or used for pack animals. Donkeys have a distinct braying call that sounds like "Hee Haw Hee Haw." They are friendly animals and are good pets for families with kids and lots of room.
A donkey has longer ears and a straighter back than a horse.
When a horse and a donkey have a baby, it is called a mule.
Donkeys are good tempered and friendly. People can ride donkeys just like horses.
Remember in the Bible that Jesus rode a donkey to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
Donkeys are herd animals so it's better to have more than one. If there isn't another donkey, some donkeys will make friends with a horse, a sheep or a goat.
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Pigs have the reputation of being dirty but they are actually quite clean. They do like to roll in the mud to keep cool because they can't sweat like we do. A lot of the best meat comes from pigs including ham, pork and bacon.
Pigs are very smart and can learn things quickly.
Not all pigs have curly tails, some have straight tails.
A female pig is called a sow, a male is called a boar and a baby is called a piglet.
These animal facts were gathered from assorted Animal and Nature Encyclopedias. To find out more check out your local library or bookstores. There's plenty more things to learn about farm animals!
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