Riley County KSU Research and Extension social media release
Did you know that Kansas has over 6.15 million cattle? That means cattle outnumber people in our state a little over 2:1. Kansas beef producers ranked 6th nationally in cattle populations, 3rd in hide production, and 1st in value of beef. One Kansas steer can produce up to 20 footballs and around 800 lbs of beef (steaks, burgers, kabobs, roasts ).
There are hundreds of other byproducts in cattle production that we may inadvertently use when going too or from the K-State v UT Martin game Saturday (tires, adhesives, and some clothing items to name a few).
One Cow-Calf pair may require 6-8 acres of Flint Hills Pasture for a 6-month grazing season. That means 4.5 to 6 football fields per cow-calf pair in the Flint Hills (more football fields per pair required the farther west you go).
A 1200-1400lb cow can run approximately 25mph. This means that in terms of ground speed, a cow is slightly faster than our starting quarterback (although there is not a 40-yard time from a cow to solidify this).