17 Beef Facts to Wow Your Thanksgiving Table
Don’t let the turkey steal the show! Wow your Thanksgiving dinner guests with these beef facts.
103 million
Number of cows and calves in the U.S. (as of July 1, 2017)
1850s
The first widespread cattle feedyards were built by U.S. cottonseed oil-mill operators to utilize mill by-products
40
Average number of cattle on U.S. beef cattle farms
25%
Percentage of the world’s beef supply produced in the United States
Food Safety Inspection Service
U.S. governmental agency in charge of mandatory beef safety inspections. The FSIS is part of the USDA
1904
Year the hamburger debuted at the World’s Fair in St. Louis
White Castle
First hamburger “chain” in the United States (founded in 1921)
1955
Year the first McDonald’s opened
11.2 billion
Number of beef servings in American restaurants each year
3.4 oz.
Daily beef consumption per person in the U.S.
140 lb.
Amount of beef consumed annually per person in Argentina, the leading beef consuming country in the world (the U.S. average is about 70 lb. per year).
Ground Beef
Most popular cut of beef in the U.S.
1,000
Number of quarter pound burgers that could be produced from one steer
0.2%
Amount of America’s water supply consumed by cattle
11
Number of basketballs that can be made from one beef hide
1
Number of stomachs in the cow (it is separated into four compartments)
0
Number of upper front teeth on a cow
9.5 months
Gestation (pregnancy) period of a cow
Sources: USDA; Purdue University; National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
