Why loose cattle eat festival waste and what it does to the rumen

Stray cattle consume festival waste due to digestive processes in their four-chambered system where the rumen holds up to 150 litres of fermenting ingesta. Billions of microbes break down cellulose from dry grass, straw, sugarcane bagasse, and maize leaves through continuous microbial fermentation. The rumen wall contracts roughly once a minute to mix contents and push material toward the reticulum. Cattle are ruminants, meaning digestion begins in this specialized four-chambered system rather than an acid stomach, with the adult cow rumen holding between 100 and 150 litres of fermenting ingesta. Microbes including bacteria, protozoa, and fungi break down cellulose that single-stomached animals cannot process. This microbial fermentation produces volatile fatty acids that serve as the primary energy source absorbed by the animal.