The phenomenon named “cannulated cow” or “fistulated cow” refers to a cow that has been surgically fitted with a cannula. This old-fashioned farmers’ technique that is still performed in the USA and across Europe, allows to directly see how food is being processed in the cow’s digestive tract.
This process helps to improve farming methods and is said to being able to help the environment by optimizing the energy efficiency of cows, which in turn reduces the amount of methane they produce.
The cannula that is placed to the 8-inch (20cm) holes, acts like a porthole and gives direct access to a cow’s rumen. After the cannula is surgically installed into the cow, farmers use it to pull the grass and oat mixture from the rumen. The fistula is covered with a plastic plug.
Cows are anaesthetised during the surgical procedure and are said to experience no pain when their fistulas are being exploited. However, the animal rights activists claim the practice is an abuse.
The cows’ fistulating is believed to become widespread in the 1920s. But some reports of cows being used in this way for scientific research are dated back to 1833. Nowadays this practise is mostly used by producers of forages.
Source: Dailymail
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