Some people like to cite how a brown or black cow eats green grass and produces white milk as a phenomenon or conundrum. The thought of such a thing is unusual or peculiar.
How does a black cow that eats green grass produces white milk?
Chalking it up to Mother Nature is too easy. And what’s the fun in that? Ruminating about it time and time again is the stuff of lore, awe, mystery, and questions about nature.
Who cares that the science reflects that the color of the milk has nothing to do with the cow’s color or the green grass it digests?
Brown cows also eat brown grass and give white milk.
Actually, the whiteness of the milk is relative to the fat content. And the amount of fat in the milk is comparable to the amount of grass digested. The whiter the milk, the greater the fat content dictated by grass consumption. A yellowish tint or color to the milk indicates less fat and the digestion of less grass.
I’m with you; this answer doesn’t stop our ponderings.
We can also say God made it that way!
And it’s okay if we can’t wrap our brains around the white milk conundrum, but what about the brown eggs?
Recently someone asked me if I knew why some chicken eggs are white and others are brown.
Well, I’ve never pondered the question.
Although we had chickens when I was growing up, I was at a loss about the answer. We didn’t care about the color of the eggs? The insides of the brown and white eggs were the same then as now—yellow yolk and white gook.
Thank goodness scrambled eggs taste nothing like they look in the uncooked natural!
I recently learned the egg’s color is based on the breed of chicken. And the chickens’ earlobes or feathers giveaway the to-be-color of their eggs, and a white spot on the earlobes signals white eggs.
The pigment, protoporphyrin IX, in dark-feathered hens causes the browning of the shell. As the eggs go through the hen’s oviduct, pigmentation occurs.
It’s easier to remember that white hens usually lay white eggs and brown hens brown eggs.
American-origin chickens like the Bovan or New Hampshire Red lay brown eggs. Layers like the Leghorn and other Mediterranean-origin breeds lay white eggs.
Did you know every American eats 250 eggs on average yearly?
Some people may think chickens are stupid; all they do is eat and lay eggs. It seems that chickens are as proud as new parents every time they lay an egg.
Is there another reason for the bull-horn cackle heard throughout the neighborhood?
Chickens are unassuming animals, moon dancing forward and backward with their necks, clucking as they roam about. But as they move, they observe their surroundings.
Did you know that chickens see in full color?
You may not remember which chicken is which, but they remember you. Chickens can remember 100 faces of people and animals.
If this face recognition is true, they should’ve known to run from Mom because she was a neck ringer back in the day. Her “Here, chick, chick, chick” summons were often death sentences for the yard-to-dinner-table delicious fowls.
Okay, we’ve eliminated the egg color conundrum, but the mystery about a black cow eating green grass and producing white milk lives on.
Be safe.