Livestock Learning: Beef and Pork Resources for January

The weather outside may be frightful for growing field and garden crops, but our livestock farmers are still hard at work all winter long raising animals to provide us with food and fiber. This month, we will celebrate beef and pork farmers by highlighting some of our favorite activities, printable resources, and ag-accurate books about these important livestock!

Check out these fun facts about beef cattle:

Cattle can eat up to 40 pounds of food a day which includes grass, hay, corn, and silage!
Beef cattle only sleep about 4 hours a day!
The U.S. supplies 19% of the world's beef supply with 10% of the world's cattle.
The average American eats 11 steaks per year!
One cowhide can produce 11 basketballs, 144 baseballs, or 20 footballs.

Check out these fun facts about pigs:

In Illinois, there are over 2100 pig farms that raise more than 5.25 million pigs.
Pigs cannot sweat! That's why you often see them "wallowing in the mud" - to cool off.
Bacon is one of the oldest meats consumed in history.
Pork accounts for 40% of all meat consumed worldwide, making it the most consumed animal protein.
You may have heard a football nicknamed a "pig skin." This nickname is incorrect, because footballs are actually made from beef hide, not pig hide!

Lessons for Littles

Cattle and pigs are very important to our food supply chain, and are fun to learn about, too! Check out some of our favorite lessons for littles about beef and pork.

Beautiful Bovine (2-4) Pig Placemat (3-6) Paper Bag Pig Puppet (K-2)