In the arterial system of meat animals, the aorta bends to the left side of the body (Figure 1-9-1), and then runs posteriorly in the midline, ventral to the vertebral column. The right forelimb is supplied from the right brachial (Figure 1-9-2) which, like the common carotids (Figure 1-9-3) to the head, branches from the brachiocephalic trunk (Figure 1-9-4). The left brachial (Figure 1-9-5) to the left forelimb originates directly from the aorta. As it passes under the vertebral column in the ribcage, the aorta gives rise to a series of small intercostal arteries (Figure 1-9-6) before the first main branch to the viscera, the coeliac (Figure 1-9-7). In cattle, the coeliac artery has five main branches; (1) the hepatic to the liver, pancreas and nearby structures, (2) left and (3) right ruminals to the rumen, (4) an omaso-abomasal artery to the omasum and abomasum, and (5) the splenic to the spleen. Proceeding posteriorly, the remaining major branches from the aorta are the anterior mesenteric (Figure 1-9-8), right and left renals (Figure 1-9-9), posterior mesenteric (Figure 1-9-10), a spermatic or utero-ovarian artery (depending on the sex of the animal, Figure 1-9-11), and the external (Figure 1-9-12) and internal iliacs (Figure 1-9-13) to the hindlimb and rump.