Fun Facts

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

A finished bale of cotton weighs about 480 pounds.

Dairy farmers work with animal nutritionists to create recipes that meet the specific nutritional requirements of their cows. A cow’s diet is a combination of hay, grain, silage and proteins,...

One dairy cow can produce more than 3,000 gallons of milk in a year. There are about 160,000 dairy cows in Kansas. That's a lot of milk!

98 percent of all corn farms are family-run farms.

Did you know Kansas has an official state soil? It's called Harney silt loam and it covers about 4 million acres of land in our state. 

Mexico and Japan are our top international corn buyers. They buy 50 percent of U.S. corn exports.

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

About four percent of the land in Kansas is part of conservation or wetland reserve programs.

Corn is produced on every continent of the world with the exception of Antarctica. 

Cattle are great recyclers. They convert natural resources that would otherwise be wasted into beef, an edible protein containing 10 essential nutrients such as zinc, iron and B vitamins.  

It takes five to six months for a pig to reach market weight (about 265 pounds). One market hog provides about 160 pounds of pork for the grocery store’s meat case.

Kansas is the top state for growing and storing wheat.

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

In pre-refrigeration days, hogs were harvested in the fall and cured for six to seven months, just in time for Easter dinner. That’s how ham came to be the traditional Easter favorite.

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

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

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.

The journey from the time a calf is conceived to the time beef is consumed takes 24-30 months and thousands of miles—from ranches, farms, feed yards and packing plants to grocery stores and...

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

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