Fun Ag Facts

Corn

  • An acre of corn will give off 4,000 gallons of water per day in evaporation
  • One bushel of corn weighs 56 pounds
  • Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota produce more than half of the United State’s corn crop
  • One bushel of corn produces enough syrup to sweeten 324 cans of soda pop.
  • Americans consume 17.3 billion quarts of popped corn each year.
  • Corn is grown in every state in the United States
  • Some golf tees are made from corn products

Soybeans

  • Illinois is the top producer of soybeans in the United States.
  • More than 80,000 newspapers in the United States use soy ink
  • China uses more American grown soybeans than any other country.
  • Each soybean plant grows 60- 80 pods and each pod has three beans inside.
  • Soybean oil is used to make pizza dough.
  • A bushel of soybeans weighs about 60 lbs.
  • Henry Ford used soybeans for paint and plastic in his cars
  • Soybeans are used to make fortune cookies

Cattle

  • Cows can eat around 40 pounds of food each day
  • Beef fat, called tallow, is an ingredient in soaps, cosmetics, candles, shortenings, and chewing gum.
  • Many medicines, including insulin, are made from the glands of a cow.
  • A calf weighs about 80 pounds at birth.
  • It takes the hide of 3.8 steers to make 72 footballs.
  • Each year, the average American consumes 112 pounds of beef.
  • There are 1,470,000 cattle in Illinois
  • A 1,000 pound steer can produce 432 pounds of meat.
  • In 2003, 35.7 million cattle were harvested.

Hogs

  • As pigs grow, they can eat up to 9 pounds of feed per day.
  • The average person will eat twenty 240 pound pigs in their lifetime.
  • Insulin is made from a pig’s adrenal gland and helps people with diabetes lower their blood sugar.
  • In the old days, ship captains kept pigs on board because they believed that pigs always swam towards the nearest shore.
  • There are more than 180 species of pigs, found on every continent except Antarctica.
  • Pigs weigh about 250 pounds by the time they are four to six months old.
  • Illinois Pork Producers raise 8.3 million pigs each year.
  • Pigs do not sweat.

Pumpkins

  • Pumpkins are fruits, not vegetables.
  • Pumpkins are 90% water
  • Illinois is the leading state in pumpkin production
  • Giant Pumpkins can grow 5 pounds per day.
  • A single vine from a pumpkin plant can grow up to 20 feet long.
  • Pumpkin flowers are edible.
  • In early colonial times, pumpkins were used in the making of pie crust, not the filling
     

Horses

  • There are more horses in Illinois than there are in Kentucky.
  • Horses drink 10 to 20 gallons of fresh water per day.
  • There are more than 350 different breeds of horses and ponies.
  • There are 219,000 horses in Illinois; most of them are used for show or recreation.
  • A thoroughbred horse can run a mile in 1 ½ minutes.
  • Horses in Illinois consume 500,000 tons of hay and grain each year.
  • An average life span of a horse is around 20 to 25 years old.
  • Professionals that trim horses ‘ hooves are called farriers
     

Dairy

  • The most common breed of  dairy cow is the Holstein.
  • It takes 10 pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese
  • Americans eat about 350 slices of pizza per second, or almost 3 billion pizzas (made with Mozzarella Cheese) per year.
  • It takes more than 21 pounds of whole milk to make one pound of butter.
  • Canada, Japan, and Mexico are the largest markets for U.S. dairy exports.
  • A cow’s udder can hold 25- 50 pounds of milk.
  • Dairy cows drink 35 gallons of water a day – the equivalent of a bathtub of water.
  • Illinois has about 103,000 dairy cows that produce more than two million pounds of milk a year.
  • The average American consumes almost 25 gallons of milk a year; that’s 400 glasses!
  • The average cows produces 90 glasses of milk a day.
  • Dairy cows weigh about 1,400 pounds.
     

Chickens

  • A chicken can travel up to 9 miles per hour
  • Each year, a person will eat approximately 250 eggs.
  • Laying Hens sit on their eggs for 21 days until they hatch
  • A hen requires 24 to 26 hours to produce an egg.
  • Most eggs produced today will be at the grocery store within 72 hours.

Sources Used
Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom
Farm Facts for Kids- Cultivate Illinois (Office of the Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias)
National Cattleman’s Beef Association- Beef USA Beef Industry Fact Sheet