150 Weird Facts About Cows

150 Weird Facts About Cows

• They can eat about 40 pounds of food a day.
• Every day, 76 million Americans eat beef.
• They consume, on average, 112 pounds of beef per year.
• In 2018, U.S. consumers purchased 26.7 billion pounds of beef at foodservice and retail locations.
• The ruminant digestive system enables a cow to acquire nutrients from grasses, which humans cannot. Other ruminants include sheep, deer, and buffalo.
• As a ruminant, a cow digests plants by repeatedly regurgitating and chewing them up again. A cow “chews its cud” for about eight hours a day.
• Cows have first domesticated about 10,000 years ago.
• The ancestor of domesticated cattle is thought to be the now-extinct auroch, a horned, wild ox that was black and stood 6 feet tall at the shoulder.
• Cows spend about 10 hours a day lying down.
• The first cow arrived in the U.S. in 1611 in Jamestown.
• The U.S.’s cattle herd size is at its lowest level since 1952, and it is shrinking.
• Cows are ruminants, which are cud-chewing mammals. Other ruminant animals are sheep, giraffes, goats, and deer, just to name a few.
• The main stomach of a cow, the rumen, holds up to 50 gallons of food that have been partially digested. To put that in perspective, a bathtub can usually hold 30-50 gallons of water. A cow will consume about 40 pounds of food in a day.
• Rancher on horseback with cattle
• The U.S. is the world’s largest beef producer, followed by Brazil.
• U.S. farmers and ranchers produce 18% of the world’s beef with only 8% of the world’s cattle.
• Japan, South Korea, and Mexico are the top importers of U.S. beef.
• The U.S. ranked fourth in the world for the amount of beef eaten per capita, at 79.3 pounds, in 2016.
• Ahead of the U.S. in beef consumption per capita is Uruguay (124.2 pounds), Argentina (120.2 pounds), and Hong Kong (114.3 pounds).
• Agricultural consultant speaks with a producer in the field
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• All “cows” are female. Males are called bulls or steer. Before having a calf for the very first time, a female is called a heifer. Then, once she has her first calf, she becomes a cow.
• There are over 800 different cattle breeds recognized worldwide (according to Wikipedia). For example, beef breeds are raised for their meat, and dairy breeds are raised to produce milk. At Clover Meadows Beef, we raise Angus-based cattle, which is a beef breed.
• What do cows eat? Grass and sometimes grain. Cows don’t eat meat – ever. They’re always “vegetarian fed”. Therefore, if you ever see “vegetarian fed” on a beef label, you know it’s a marketing term designed to get sales.
• Cows can see almost 360 degrees. As a result of this near-panoramic view, they can watch for predators from all angles. However, they don’t see well straight in front of them and they will typically turn their head to look at you.
• One cowhide can make 18 soccer balls or 20 footballs.
• Medical products, like insulin and drugs used to help the body accept organ transplants, are made from cattle.
• Gummy Bears
• Gummy bears and marshmallows often contain gelatin, which can be made from cattle.
• Other products that may be made from cattle include candles, paintbrushes, deodorants, dish soap, and toilet paper.
• 1% increase in soil organic matter can help the soil hold about 20,000 gallons of additional water per acre.
• The gestation period for a cow, or the amount of time she is pregnant, is nine months — the same as a human.
• Rangelands naturally evolved with the presence of fire and grazing, making them processes that the land continues to need today.
• One acre of rangeland or pasture may have about 1,000 pounds of standing plant mass and as much as 3,500 pounds of roots below ground, in the top foot of soil.
• It takes 2,000 years for natural processes to make 10 centimeters of fertile soil. That’s why it’s so important to protect the soil from erosion and other degradation.
• Ranchers are building up — not just conserving — the soil on pastures and rangelands by following five basic soil health principles:
• The earthy smell of biologically healthy and active soil is the presence of an organic compound called geosmin.
• Almost 2,000 quarter-pound hamburgers can be made from the ground beef in one cow.
• The six main dairy breeds: Ayshire, Guernsey, Brown Swiss, Milking Shorthorn, Jersey, and Holstein (the black and white spotted cows.)
• There are dairy cows in all 50 states.
• Milking machines were invented in 1984. Before that, it would take one person one hour to milk 6 cows by hand. Today, the use of a milking machine allows one person to milk about 100 cows in one hour.
• A cow will chew for up to eight hours a day and can move its jaws about 40,000 times a day.
• Since grass isn’t available in the winter for cattle to eat, it’s very important that farmers harvest grass so that cattle can eat it in the winter.  That process is called “making hay”. This is a very busy and critical time of the year on any cattle farm. In short, the fields have to produce enough hay in order to feed the animals through the winter.
• Farmers use ear tags as an animal identification system that helps keep track of important information about each animal, such as birth date, gender, age, weight, etc.
• Beef cattle are raised in all 50 states.
• The top five states with the most beef cows are Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
• As of Jan. 1, 2020, there was 94.4 million head of cattle in the U.S. herd. That’s more than the populations of California, Texas, Florida and Mississippi combined.
• 91% of beef farms and ranches are family-owned or individually operated.
• The average farm size in 2017 was 441 acres.
• The average herd size in 2017 was 43.5.
• It’s also a source of other nutrients our bodies need, including protein, B vitamins, zinc, selenium, niacin, phosphorus, riboflavin, and choline.
• More than 98% of a beef animal is used.
• 60% of a beef animal goes to make products other than meat.
• Calves weigh approximately 80 pounds at birth.
• They only have a bottom set of teeth, which helps them eat grass.
• And they have a rough, sandpaper-like tongue.
• A study in California found that grasslands and rangelands were more resilient carbon sinks than forests. Grazing lands store carbon underground in roots and the soil, whereas trees store it in their leaves and woody biomass — which release carbon back into the atmosphere during wildfires.
• Cattle and wildlife can be compatible with the proper management of native rangelands.
• The most important considerations when managing the two together are habitat and cattle stocking rate.
• 70% of food service operators say that the steak on the menu increases traffic.
• The most popular beef products include ground beef, ribeye steak, strip steak, and t-bone steak.
• About 490 pounds of meat comes from one 1,200-pound steer.
• Beef is one of the most important dietary sources of iron. You’d have to eat three cups of raw spinach in order to get the same amount of iron in one 3-ounce serving of beef.
• Consumers purchased 26.7 billion pounds of beef at foodservice and retail locations.
• All cattle spend most of their lives eating grasses and other forages on grazing lands.
• Spaniards brought the first cattle to the Americas in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
• Cattle were first brought to Jamestown, in what is now Virginia, from England in 1611, according to the writings of John Smith.
• A cow has 32 teeth. A cow will chew about 50 times in a minute, making its jaws move about 40,000 times a day.
• A cow will spend about 8 hours a day eating and will consume about 40 pounds of food in a day.
• A bathtub can hold between 30 and 50 gallons of water. Did you know that a cow can drink that much water in just one day?
• With all of the eating and drinking that a cow does in one day, they will urinate about 30 gallons and produce about 60 pounds of manure. So in one year, a cow will produce about 20,100 pounds of manure – that’s 10 TONS!
• The first hamburger chain was White Castle, which was founded in Wichita, Kansas, in 1921.
• Today’s beef producers use 33% fewer cattle to produce the same amount of beef that they did in the 1970s. The industry uses natural resources much more efficiently today.
• U.S. beef represents only 2% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, but work continues to be done to improve.
• According to a study comparing beef production in 1977 to 2007, each pound of beef is produced with 20% fewer feedstuffs and 9% less fossil fuel energy.
• The carbon footprint of a unit of beef produced decreased by 16% from 1977 to 2007.
• Water use decreased by 14% from 1977 to 2007.
• The U.S. beef industry continued to reduce water by 3% from 2005 to 2011.
• In the 1850s, nearly every family in the U.S. had its own cow.
• All cattle (even grass-finished cattle) sometimes need to eat something other than grass in order to be healthy, like minerals. Like all animals, cattle require a balance of nutrients for survival. They receive these nutrients through their diet, which provides six basic cattle nutrients: water, carbohydrates, fats, protein, vitamins, and minerals.
• 90% of the world’s milk supply comes from dairy cows. Other than cows, water buffalo, camels, goats, sheep, horses, and even reindeer are milked.
• At birth, a Jersey's calf weighs about 60 pounds. At maturity, it will weigh 900-1000 pounds.
• The color of a Jersey cow varies from dark brown to fawn and can have some white splashed in.
• A cow will stand up and lay down about fourteen times a day. Cows can sleep while they are standing up! How convenient.
• Increased water-holding capacity reduces the need to use water for irrigation and improves the land’s resiliency in drought.
• 75 Beef Facts - U.S. Farmers and ranchers produce 18% of the world's beef with only 8% of the world's cattle.
• Researchers say more carbon resides in soil (2,500 billion tons) than in the atmosphere (800 billion tons) and all plant/animal life (560 billion tons) combined.
• Grazing lands sequester about 30% of Earth’s carbon pool, according to a Global Change Biology
• Cows have an acute sense of smell and can detect odors up to six miles away.
• Cows are very social and don’t like to be alone. For example, when a cow isolates herself it’s usually because she is sick or about to give birth.
• Cows have no upper front teeth. Therefore, when they’re eating food, they press their sharp bottom teeth against the top hard palate of their mouth to cut blades of grass.
• Cows can see color. They can even see red. When you see a Matador waving a red flag at a bull (a male “cow”), the bull charges because of the flag’s movement.
• The average body temperature of a cow is 102 degrees Fahrenheit.
• In the winter, cows' thick skin and hair is a natural insulator that protects them from the bitter cold.
• Cows have 4 digestive compartments in one stomach – the rumen (this is where the cud comes from); the reticulum; omasum; and abomasum (this is sort of like a human’s stomach).
• There are more than 800,000 ranchers and cattle producers in the U.S.
• One-third of all U.S. farms and ranches include cattle.
• Pasture and rangeland represent 41% of land usage in the U.S.
• Cattle and calves made up nearly 40% of cash receipts for animals and animal products in 2018.
• About 16 U.S. presidents can say they have experience with farming or ranching, including Theodore Roosevelt, who at one point owned 5,000 cattle in the Dakota Badlands and championed conservation efforts during his presidency.
• Legacy tells the stories of regenerative pioneers in grazing animal production.
• Noble News & Views keeps you in the know with practical industry knowledge.
• The carbon footprint of a unit of beef produced decreased by 16% from 1977 to 2007.
• Colonists were raising enough cattle by the 1630s that they no longer needed to rely on imported cattle from Europe.
• The hamburger was popularized at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis.
• You could buy a hamburger for just 5 cents in 1921 and 12 cents in 1950.
• Pasture and rangeland represent 41% of land usage in the U.S.
• There are 655 million acres of pasture and rangeland in the U.S., making it the single largest land use in the country.
• About 85% of U.S. grazing lands are unsuitable for producing crops.
• Up to 1 billion bacteria can reside in a single teaspoon of productive soil.
• Healthy soil with high levels of organic matter can store 20 times its weight in water, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.
• Increasing soil organic matter in pastures and rangelands will help reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide. By creating carbon sinks — natural reservoirs that can hold carbon — we can reduce the greenhouse effect and slow atmospheric warming.
• One California-based study published in Conservation Biology found that cattle grazing plays an important role in maintaining wetland habitat necessary for some endangered species.
• More than half of farmers intentionally provide habitat for wildlife.

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