Milk, the best food for kids

From the ordinary to the surprising, learn the fun facts about milk your everyday glass holds. Considered healthy and delicious, milk comes from a variety of mammals and is the best meal for all living creatures especially babies and children.Although it is nearly impossible to pinpoint, most historians believe that using milk as a beverage began about 10,000 years ago when animals were first domesticated. Evidence suggests that this early domestication appeared first in Afghanistan and Iran, then later in Turkey and some areas in Africa.Fun Facts about Milk and Cows• All cows are female. Male cattle are called bulls.• Dairy cows provide over 90 percent of the entire planet’s milk supply.• It takes 10 pounds of milk to make a pound of cheese, 21 pounds of milk to make a pound of butter, and 12 pounds of milk to make a single gallon of ice cream.• Despite its creamy texture, milk is comprised of 85 to 95 percent water. The rest of its volume comes from nutritious vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, and fat. • It takes about 345 squirts to produce one gallon of milk.• A cow udder holds between 25 and 50 pounds of pure milk.• A single cow yields about 90 glasses of milk per day or about 200,000 glasses of milk per lifetime.• Milk is unique because no other beverage in the world contains as many natural nutrients.• Young children need the nutrients milk provides because their developing skeletal systems replace bone mass about every two years until they reach maturity.• Until the development of milking machines in 1894, farmers only milked about six cows each hour. Today, the average dairy farmer milks more than 100 cows per hour.• Milk pasteurization, which began in the late 1800s, is partly responsible for curbing the tuberculosis epidemic of that time.Milk from other sourcesCows are not the only animals that produce milk for consumption but also Goats, Donkeys, Reindeer, Sheep, Water buffalo, Yaks, Moose, Horses, Soy, Hemp and Camels. Did you know that goat’s milk breaks down during digestion in 20 minutes whereas cow milk takes a full hour?