Post by Tammy on Dec 16, 2009 12:10:00 GMT -5
www.weirdnj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=41&Itemid=28
ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS LIVING LEGENDS IN NEW JERSEY can be found on the campus of Cook College, Rutgers State University, in New Brunswick. It's mooing and peacefully chewing its cud, just like any other hungry heifer. The only difference is that this Jersey bovine has a unique feature: a window into it's digestive system.
Now you may think of a window with a white frame and glass panes, but this window is more like a portal big enough to fit your arm through.
The cow is the product of an experiment designed to monitor it's digestive system. But the real legend begins with everyone thinking that the cow has a real see-through window on the side of its belly.
We decided to track down this local rumor and get right to the heart (or guts) of the matter.
Arriving at the Experimental Animal Barn at Cook College, we found no one who could direct us to "The Window." As a matter of fact, the only moving creatures we could find were the cows, who looked at us as if we were choosing our evenings dinner. They loitered around, huddled together in an open barn on that cold raw morning, hoof-deep in steaming cowpies.
We walked to the "swine house" and were told to hang around for awhile, because the cows were soon going to be fed. Back at the dairy barn we were met by a couple of students, and after a brief introduction, an instructor appeared.
"If I had a dollar for everyone who asks me about the cow with the window in its stomach, I'd be a rich man." said Tim, an administrator who seemed a bit confused as to the purpose our visit.
"We're just about to feed 'em, I'll show you if you'd like."
With anticipation and that giddy feeling we get whenever we think we're about to see something really outrageous, we followed along to the back barn along with the students.
"Every kid at Cook thinks the cow has a window in it," said one of the agricultural interns. "I don't know how that started."
"Do you know what a colostomy bag is?" Tim asked us. "That's pretty much what this is. A hole has been cut in the cow's side, then another through the wall of her rumen. That's a cow's first stomach. The edges of the internal hole and the external hole were then sewn together and closed off with a removable plug. Now you can take out the stopper and reach into the cow's rumen through the hole, either to feed her or to clean it out."
When we saw it, the window was nothing more than a round plastic plug attached to the huge black and white cow's side. It was certainly not the anticipated peek into the internal workings of a beefsteak that we were hoping for.
We asked Tim if he wouldn't mind posing for a picture with the cow, elbow deep in the animal's roomy rumen. But he said that that would be an utter mess.
Tim told us that there have been at least three of these experimental cows at Cook in his thirteen year tenure there. Then he added that the program might be forced to shut down due to lack of funding.
We told him that perhaps cloning would be a more lucrative line of work to get into, since it seems to be all the rage these days.
"Well, we do a lot of clowning around here," he replied, "but we haven't gotten into any cloning yet.
And here is a video:
ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS LIVING LEGENDS IN NEW JERSEY can be found on the campus of Cook College, Rutgers State University, in New Brunswick. It's mooing and peacefully chewing its cud, just like any other hungry heifer. The only difference is that this Jersey bovine has a unique feature: a window into it's digestive system.
Now you may think of a window with a white frame and glass panes, but this window is more like a portal big enough to fit your arm through.
The cow is the product of an experiment designed to monitor it's digestive system. But the real legend begins with everyone thinking that the cow has a real see-through window on the side of its belly.
We decided to track down this local rumor and get right to the heart (or guts) of the matter.
Arriving at the Experimental Animal Barn at Cook College, we found no one who could direct us to "The Window." As a matter of fact, the only moving creatures we could find were the cows, who looked at us as if we were choosing our evenings dinner. They loitered around, huddled together in an open barn on that cold raw morning, hoof-deep in steaming cowpies.
We walked to the "swine house" and were told to hang around for awhile, because the cows were soon going to be fed. Back at the dairy barn we were met by a couple of students, and after a brief introduction, an instructor appeared.
"If I had a dollar for everyone who asks me about the cow with the window in its stomach, I'd be a rich man." said Tim, an administrator who seemed a bit confused as to the purpose our visit.
"We're just about to feed 'em, I'll show you if you'd like."
With anticipation and that giddy feeling we get whenever we think we're about to see something really outrageous, we followed along to the back barn along with the students.
"Every kid at Cook thinks the cow has a window in it," said one of the agricultural interns. "I don't know how that started."
"Do you know what a colostomy bag is?" Tim asked us. "That's pretty much what this is. A hole has been cut in the cow's side, then another through the wall of her rumen. That's a cow's first stomach. The edges of the internal hole and the external hole were then sewn together and closed off with a removable plug. Now you can take out the stopper and reach into the cow's rumen through the hole, either to feed her or to clean it out."
When we saw it, the window was nothing more than a round plastic plug attached to the huge black and white cow's side. It was certainly not the anticipated peek into the internal workings of a beefsteak that we were hoping for.
We asked Tim if he wouldn't mind posing for a picture with the cow, elbow deep in the animal's roomy rumen. But he said that that would be an utter mess.
Tim told us that there have been at least three of these experimental cows at Cook in his thirteen year tenure there. Then he added that the program might be forced to shut down due to lack of funding.
We told him that perhaps cloning would be a more lucrative line of work to get into, since it seems to be all the rage these days.
"Well, we do a lot of clowning around here," he replied, "but we haven't gotten into any cloning yet.
And here is a video: