3 Ways Animals Eat… and Why It Matters for YOU!

When I talk about ruminants, monogastric animals, or hindgut fermenters, I sometimes forget that not everyone has the same background in animal management and nutrition as I do. But understanding the differences matters — not just for how we raise animals on the homestead, but for the health of the food we put on our own plates.

Ruminants, like cows, sheep, goats and deer, are the most efficient converters of grass into nutrient-dense meat. With their multi-chambered stomachs, they can ferment rough forage into protein, create vitamins like B12, and even rearrange fatty acids and amino acids.

They’re resilient animals that build soil, thrive on pasture, and give us high-quality red meat even when their forage isn’t ideal.

In contrast, monogastric animals — like chickens, turkeys, pigs, and even humans — have only one stomach. They can’t compensate for poor feed quality, which means their diet directly determines the nutrient profile of their meat or eggs.

That’s why we go out of our way to provide our poultry with low-PUFA, high-quality feed and pasture access; because cheap-grain diets translate into fatty acid imbalances and less healthy food for us.

Hindgut fermenters like rabbits and horses sit somewhere in between. Rabbits ferment feed in their cecum (a large pouch at the start of their large intestine), where specialized microbes break down fiber and unlock extra nutrients. Because that process isn’t as efficient as a rumen, rabbits re-ingest their first passing of stool (called cecotropes) to extract more nutrition before producing the final hard pellets.

Horses also rely on hindgut fermentation in their cecum. But unlike rabbits, they don’t re-consume what passes through. Instead, they simply do a poorer job extracting nutrients from lower-quality feed.

On our homestead, rabbits fill a crucial role: they provide red meat on limited acreage without the grain dependence of poultry, and without the space requirements of larger ruminants.

In this video, I break down exactly what sets these categories apart, why it matters for animal health, and the very real impact it has on the food we produce and eat as a family. On our homestead, choosing which animals to raise isn’t just about convenience — it’s about creating the most nourishing food possible while staying aligned with nature’s design.

Learn more:

How Much Our 1-Acre HOMESTEAD Has Changed in 1 Year:    • How Much Our 1-Acre HOMESTEAD Has Changed ...  

How We Found the Perfect Homestead Property: https://kummerhomestead.com/how-to-fi...

In this video:

00:00 Introduction to animal digestive systems
00:38 Understanding ruminants
01:33 Monogastric animals explained
03:08 Importance of quality feed for monogastric animals
04:42 Hindgut fermenters: A unique digestive system
05:43 Comparing digestive systems and their implications
08:57 Final thoughts

To follow along with us as we learn the ropes of homestead living, check out our Instagram account ( @‌kummerhomestead ), where we share the useful tips and tricks we discover.

You can also visit us at https://www.kummerhomestead.com

#Ruminants #Mono-gastricAnimal #HindgutFermenters