Cattle In Minnesota
Dairy Cattle
The average American consumes about 600 pounds of dairy products each year. As of 2010, there were nearly 470,000 dairy cows on over 6,000 farms in Minnesota, making up about 5 percent of the U.S. total. Cows in Minnesota produced about 9 billion pounds (or 1.06 billion gallons) of milk, making it the sixth largest dairy producing state. In addition to liquid milk Minnesota is a major producer of cheese, butter, yogurt and other dairy products. The dairy industry provides economic benefits to the state by supporting about 38,000 jobs, ranking second in agricultural and fourth in manufacturing employment.
Beef Cattle
The United States is one of the top beef producing countries in the world. The average American consumes 66 pounds of beef per year. In Minnesota there are almost 400,000 beef cows and approximately 320,000 cattle on feed every year. The total value of U.S. cattle and calf production in the United States was $37 billion in 2010. The U.S exported 2.3 billion pounds of beef in the same year.