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Virginia Beef Statistics
 Beef Industry in Virginia |
| Cash receipts |
$426.1 million |
| Number of cattle and calves |
1.6 million head |
| Number of farms with cattle |
25,000 |
Source: National Agricultural Statistics Service
(Most recent figures, 2006) |
| Virginia Beef Cattle's National Ranking |
| 19th in number of all cattle and cows. |
| Source: NASS (Most recent figures, 2006) |
| Top 10 Cattle Counties (Ranked by total # of beef cows) |
| County |
Cattle |
| Augusta |
29,000 |
| Bedford |
25,000 |
| Franklin |
23,000 |
| Pittsylvania |
23,000 |
| Rockingham |
23,000 |
| Wythe |
23,000 |
| Scott |
22,000 |
| Washington |
21,000 |
| Russell |
20,000 |
| Rockbridge |
19,000 |
| Fauquier |
16,000 |
| Source: NASS (Most recent figures, 2006) |
| Health Benefits of Beef |
| One 3-ounce serving of beef is an excellent source of five essential nutrients (protein, zinc, vitamin B12, selenium and phosphorus) and
a good source of five essential nutrients (niacin, vitamin B6, iron, riboflavin and choline). |
| Beef is the No. 3 food source of iron in the American diet, after
iron-enriched cereals and breads. |
| Beef is a nutrition powerhouse. When compared to a skinless chicken breast, beef’s 19 leanest cuts have, on average: nearly seven times more vitamin B12, six times more zinc and more than twice the iron. |
| Source: National Cattlemen's Beef Association |
| Beef Up Your Trivia |
Nearly eight out of 10 Americans eat fresh beef at home regularly. That’s an average of slightly less than two times per week.
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Beef accounts for 39 percent of meat pounds sold and 52 percent of total dollars spent at retail outlets.
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Burgers dominate beef selections in restaurants, accounting for three-fourths of all beef entrées served.
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Eight out of 10 households, or 251 million people, will eat beef at home in the next two weeks.
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| People in the South Atlantic (Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware) eat more steak than those anywhere else in the United States. |
| America’s beef producers spend an average of $2 million on food safety research and technology each year. |
| While the United States has less than 10 percent of the world’s cattle inventory, it produces nearly 25 percent of the world’s beef supply. |
| Source: National Cattlemen's Beef Association |
| Don't have a cow |
| A calf weighs about 80 pounds at birth. |
| Although a cow has no upper front teeth, it grazes up to eight hours a day, taking in about 100 pounds of feed—the equivalent of a bath tub full of water. |
| A cow that weighs 1,000 pounds will make about 432 pounds of meat. |
| Many medicines, including insulin and estrogen, are made from the glands of the cow. |
| Source: The Missouri Beef Industry Council |
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