Was surfing the web and came accross this and thought is contained good information.
All deer are ruminants and as such digest their food in basically two steps:
Cervidae Rumination: Step 1
1a. First, they eat and incompletely chew the raw plant material they were foraging for. After this material is mixed with some salvia and swallowed, it initially goes into the Rumen, which is the first of the 4 stomach chambers. In a process often called: Foregut Fermentation, the ingested material is mixed with additional saliva and mechanically processed by the stomach muscles; and exposed to symbiotic bacteria, fungi, and protozoa that help break down indigestible Cellulose from the cell wall of the plants they just ate.
1b. Second, the food passes into the Reticulum, where the food and saliva mixture settles into 2 layers of solid and liquid material. These "layers" are important fermentation mats, sometimes termed the "scratch factor. Much of the feed's fiber-carbohydrate components, including cellulose, hemi-cellulose, and pectin are broken down into simple sugar called Glucose with the help of symbiotic microbes. NOTE: this Glucose is the "Primary" energy source for the rumen microbes which provide in microbial protein and various vitamins.
On the other hand; Deer actually get their energy from "Volatile Fatty Acids" which were produced by these important microbes!
1. Acetic Acid
2. Butyric Acid
3. Propionic Acid
Deer Energy: = "Volatile Fatty Acids" which are produced by the microbes
Microbe Energy: = "Glucose" from carbohydrate fermentation, OR feed
These microbes also convert Non-Protein Nitrogen to amino acids that are used by the deer. Non- Protein Nitrogen comes from two sources: 1. From feed and 2. from urea recycled in nitrogen metabolism. The "recycled" urea comes from: 1. Saliva and 2. Rumen wall.
The solid ruminal clump is commonly called a Cud or Bolus. The deer then regurgitates the cud and slowly re-chews it, mixing it with more salvia. Deer salvia contains natural buffers that are essential in providing the proper PH for effective rumination and microbial production. The re-mastication process further mechanically breaks down fibrous material. The gasses: 1. Carbon Dioxide and 2. Methane are relieved by belching and farting. There are about half a million protozoa and 50 billion bacteria per gram of rumen material in a healthy deer!
Cervidae Rumination: Step 2
2a. The "re-chewed" solid and liquid material called the cud, is now composed of more finely divided particles, which suspend easier in liquids. The cud is re-swallowed and passes into the Omasum and is again mechanically reprocessed. Much of the water is removed here before the reprocessed material passes into the last stomach chamber.
2b. The Abomasum is the true stomach of the deer. Here the digestive enzyme called "Lysozyme" is released and "breaks down" the synergistic bacteria, fungi, and protozoa, which in turn release protein and other nutrients into the small intestine for absorption. The protein digesting enzymes, hydrochloric acid, rennin, and pepsin are secreted as well.
Fiber particles remain in the rumen from 20 to 48 hours because bacterial fermentation of fiber is a slow process. However, particles that digest faster tend to stay in the rumen for a shorter period of time.
The website is: http://www.deerfood.com/index.php
All deer are ruminants and as such digest their food in basically two steps:
Cervidae Rumination: Step 1
1a. First, they eat and incompletely chew the raw plant material they were foraging for. After this material is mixed with some salvia and swallowed, it initially goes into the Rumen, which is the first of the 4 stomach chambers. In a process often called: Foregut Fermentation, the ingested material is mixed with additional saliva and mechanically processed by the stomach muscles; and exposed to symbiotic bacteria, fungi, and protozoa that help break down indigestible Cellulose from the cell wall of the plants they just ate.
1b. Second, the food passes into the Reticulum, where the food and saliva mixture settles into 2 layers of solid and liquid material. These "layers" are important fermentation mats, sometimes termed the "scratch factor. Much of the feed's fiber-carbohydrate components, including cellulose, hemi-cellulose, and pectin are broken down into simple sugar called Glucose with the help of symbiotic microbes. NOTE: this Glucose is the "Primary" energy source for the rumen microbes which provide in microbial protein and various vitamins.
On the other hand; Deer actually get their energy from "Volatile Fatty Acids" which were produced by these important microbes!
1. Acetic Acid
2. Butyric Acid
3. Propionic Acid
Deer Energy: = "Volatile Fatty Acids" which are produced by the microbes
Microbe Energy: = "Glucose" from carbohydrate fermentation, OR feed
These microbes also convert Non-Protein Nitrogen to amino acids that are used by the deer. Non- Protein Nitrogen comes from two sources: 1. From feed and 2. from urea recycled in nitrogen metabolism. The "recycled" urea comes from: 1. Saliva and 2. Rumen wall.
The solid ruminal clump is commonly called a Cud or Bolus. The deer then regurgitates the cud and slowly re-chews it, mixing it with more salvia. Deer salvia contains natural buffers that are essential in providing the proper PH for effective rumination and microbial production. The re-mastication process further mechanically breaks down fibrous material. The gasses: 1. Carbon Dioxide and 2. Methane are relieved by belching and farting. There are about half a million protozoa and 50 billion bacteria per gram of rumen material in a healthy deer!
Cervidae Rumination: Step 2
2a. The "re-chewed" solid and liquid material called the cud, is now composed of more finely divided particles, which suspend easier in liquids. The cud is re-swallowed and passes into the Omasum and is again mechanically reprocessed. Much of the water is removed here before the reprocessed material passes into the last stomach chamber.
2b. The Abomasum is the true stomach of the deer. Here the digestive enzyme called "Lysozyme" is released and "breaks down" the synergistic bacteria, fungi, and protozoa, which in turn release protein and other nutrients into the small intestine for absorption. The protein digesting enzymes, hydrochloric acid, rennin, and pepsin are secreted as well.
Fiber particles remain in the rumen from 20 to 48 hours because bacterial fermentation of fiber is a slow process. However, particles that digest faster tend to stay in the rumen for a shorter period of time.
The website is: http://www.deerfood.com/index.php