Fun Facts

In Kansas alone, pig farmers raised over 3.2 million pigs in 2015, producing over 600 million pounds of pork!

Kansas grows winter wheat that is planted and sprouts in the fall, becomes dormant in the winter, grows again in the spring and is harvested in early summer.

There are 7 different breeds of dairy cattle. Farmers choose their breeds based on milk production, size and even personality.

One bale of cotton can make 4,312 mid-calf socks.

Did you know Kansas farmers grow about 330 million bushels of wheat each year? That’s enough to make 23 billion loaves of bread!

Looking for a gluten-free grain? Try sorghum! It's gluten-free and packed with protein, iron, vitamin B-6, niacin, magnesium and phosphorus.  

Within an hour of birth calves are up and ready to nurse. A baby calf will drink a gallon of milk a day.

Gluten is what helps bread expand while the dough rises, and hold its shape while baking and after it cools. It’s also what makes bread chewy.

About one-third of the milk produced in the U.S. is used for making cheese.

All the wheat grown in Kansas in a single year would fit in a train stretching from western Kansas to the Atlantic Ocean.

Sows give birth (called farrowing) to an average of eight to twelve piglets at a time and will raise six to eight litters of piglets in their lifetime.

Wheat flour is a good source of complex carbohydrates and contains protein. Plus, it’s low in fat and sodium.

A bushel of soybeans weighs 60 pounds and produces 11 pounds of oil and 48 pounds of soybean meal.

One bushel of corn fed to livestock produces 5.6 pounds of retail beef, 13 pounds of retail pork, 19.6 pounds of chicken or 28 pounds of catfish.

For a dessert to officially be considered ice cream, it must contain at least 10 percent milkfat.

The top five agiculture commodities in Kansas are cattle, corn, wheat, soybeans and sorghum.

The largest market for field corn is to provide feed for animals like cattle, pigs, chicken, and even catfish. 

Pork tenderloin is as lean as a skinless chicken breast.

Did you know cotton is becoming a big crop in Kansas? Last year, farmers here produced over 164 million pounds of cotton! 

There are more than 300 licensed dairy herds in Kansas with about 143,000 cows total. In 2015 cows produced about 365 million gallons of milk, making Kansas the 16th largest milk producing state.

About two-thirds of the Kansas corn crop is used in-state as livestock feed or in food production.