Fun Facts

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

Beef from cows and steers are used in two different ways. . Cow meat is used primarily as ground beef for hamburgers and the majority of steer meat is used as steaks.

Farmers in Kansas grow more than 650 million bushels of corn each year. 

Energy experts estimate global ethanol production and use reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 110 million metric tons per year. That’s equivalent to taking more than 20 million vehicles off the road.

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

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!

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,...

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. 

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

A finished bale of cotton weighs about 480 pounds.

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

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

There are about 60-80 pods on a mature soybean plant. Each pod contains three small soybeans.

In addition to meat, pigs provide us with lots of other products, including valves for human heart surgery, suede for shoes and clothing, and gelatin for many food and non-food uses.

Drink local with milk! It takes about 48 hours for milk to travel from dairy farms to the grocery store.

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

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.

Pork tenderloin is as lean as a skinless chicken breast.

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.

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

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