There are many differences between humans and cows.

But the most notable difference is the digestive system. Cows have a digestive system that enables them to eat and digest plant matter (fibre, cellulose, hemicellulose, starches, etc.) more efficiently than humans. It is this difference that makes cows able to eat roughage and coarser forages than what humans are able to chew through. Humans, on the other hand, are more able to digest animal proteins more efficiently than cows. Essentially, cows are herbivores and humans are omnivores by natural selection and evolution. Cows are ruminants, which means they have one large stomach with four compartments that enable coarse plant matter to be digested and broken down in four steps, starting in the reticulum, which collects hardware and other things that cannot be digested or passed through the animal, followed by the rumen, which is a fermentation vat that breaks down fibrous material with the work done by microflora. The omasum absorbs the excess "water" from the digested material, and then further digested by the abomasum, with enzymes to digest proteins and starches. Humans are monogastrics, which only have one stomach with one compartment. Enzymes or peptides are designed to help break down proteins and starches, but not fibre or cellulose. Proteins stay in the stomach longer because they are being broken down more efficiently. Plant matter passes through more quickly because it can't be digested as efficiently. The only real benefit with fibrous matter is that it helps with healthy bowel movements. Cattle also have a large functioning cecum that is used to further break down fibre that was missed being broken down in the rumen. Humans, on the other hand, have what is supposed to be a cecum that actually has no significance to the human's digestive system: the appendix is just a useless piece of skin attached to the large intestine that does nothing except cause pain when it gets infected. Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_differences_are_there_between_a_cow_and_a_humans_digesti ve_system#ixzz1wvDWDNsX