BEEF CATTLE INDUSTRY NOTES

• On January 1, 2007, there were over 20,000 beef cattle operations in

Georgia and 1.11 million head of cattle and calves on Georgia farms. Cattle

are found in almost every county in Georgia. Farm Gate Value 2008 listed

the top ten counties in Brood cow numbers as follows: 1) Wilkes-20,500;

2) Madison-18,250; 3) Carroll 17,500; 4) Jackson-16,000; 5) Morgan 16,000;

6) Colquitt 14,600 7) Thomas 14,550; 8) Bartow-14,500; 9) Early-14,500; 10)

Floyd-14,000;

• Farm Gate Value 2008 listed the top ten counties in Beef Cows as follows:

1) Wilkes-$7,209,596; 2) Madison-$6,418,299; 3) Carroll-$6,154,533; 4)

Jackson-$5,627,002; 5) Morgan-$5,527,002; 6) Colquitt-$5,134,639 ; 7)

Thomas- $5,117,055; 8) Bartow-$5,099,470; 9) Early-$5,099,470; 10)

Floyd-$4,923,626

• Farm Gate Value 2008 listed the top ten counties in Beef Stockers as

follows: 1) Jackson-$3,578,400; 2) Grady-$2,964,960; 3) Bartow-$2,044,800;

4) Oglethorpe-$2,044,800; 5) Hart-$1,840,320; 6) Stephens-$1,661,400;

7) Berrien-$1,520,820; 8) Mitchell-$1,456,920; 9) Laurens-$1,454,364; 10)

Carroll-$1,278,000.

• Beef cattle enterprises including beef cows, stockers and cattle finished

outside the county had a total 2008 Farm Gate Value of $367,374,168. This

placed beef at the seventh highest Farm Gate Valued commodity behind

timber, cotton, peanuts, eggs, horses and broilers.

• Georgia’s 2008 calf crop had 500,000 head, down 30,000 head.

• Within Georgia, 67% of beef cattle operations have less than fifty head

and represent 16% of the cattle in the state. 17% of the operations have

50-99 head and account for 19% of cattle herd. 14.7% of Georgia’s beef

operations manage 100-499 head and represent 45% of the cattle in the

state. Producers with 500 head or more make up 2% of beef operations

and account for 20% of the states’ cattle and calves.

• Beef is consumed 77 million times each day across America.

• Every year consumers spend more than half and their meat budgets on

beef, making beef the consumer meat of choice.

• A 1,200 lb. market steer yields approximately 520 lbs. of beef. Nearly all

of the remaining weight is recovered as by-products, edible and inedible,

from which are made a wide variety of goods, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics,

and clothing. While the U.S. has less than 10 percent of the world’s cattle

inventory, it produces nearly 25 percent of the world’s beef supply.

• All cattle and calves in the United States as of January 1, 2010, totaled

93.7 million head, slightly lower than the 94.5 million on January 1, 2009.

• All cows and heifers that have calved, at 40.5 million, were down slightly

from the 41 million on January 1, 2009.

• Beef cows, at 31.4 million, were down slightly from January 1, 2009.

• Milk cows, at 9.1 million, were down 3 percent from January 1, 2009.

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association: http://www.beef.org Beef New Products: http://www.beefi nnovationsgroup.com

Beef Culinary Center: http://www.beefandvealculinary.com Beef Nutrition: http://www.beefnutrition.org

Beef Research: http://www.beef.org/research.aspx Consumer Site: <http://www.beefi tswhatsfordinner.com

Beef Industry Information: <http://www.BeefFromPastureToPlate.org>

USDA/National Agriculture Statistics Service: http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga

Georgia Cattlemen’s Association: http://www.georgiacattlemen.org