17 Beef Facts to Wow Your Thanksgiving Table

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

 

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