WACO, Texas — A cow here. A cow there. Cows everywhere!

That’s because Texas is the top beef-producing state in the nation, and raising cattle is the largest part of Texas agriculture.

What does that mean for you as a consumer? Tasty, flavorful beef in all forms on your table.

Did you know one 1,300-lb. steer can provide meat for more than 1,700 meals? Cowabunga! That’s a lot of beef!

How about a juicy hamburger?

About 1,050 quarter-pound patties are made from that one steer. Just think about how many cookouts and celebrations you could host. After all, summer is just around the corner!

Enjoy a lip-smacking-good meal of steak or roast? One steer can make about 1,000 servings of those two combined.

Doesn’t that make your mouth water?

And what about cheese, butter, a cold glass of milk? Or ice cream on a hot summer day?

You need ol’ Bessie around. There’s another cow for ya! And if you’re counting, Texas has about 13 million cows and calves.

They bring in more than $13 billion annually. Now that’s a lot of moola!

But there’s more.

Cows provide insulin and other valuable medicines. Their fats and fatty acids are used to make deodorant, lotions, cement, chalk and candles. They even help us smell good by contributing to our perfumes.

Plastics, lamination, wallpaper, adhesives and more are made from hooves and horns.

Cattle hair is used for air filters, brushes, insulation and felt. Bones are used for charcoal, fertilizer and glass. And their internal organs are used to make instrument strings, tennis racket strings, vitamins and more!

Byproducts of the hide include medicines, leather, gelatin, flavorings and adhesives.

Think about that next time you see a herd grazing contentedly in the pasture. There’s a little bit of cow in just about everything.

And if you ever wondered about a world without cows? Well, it’d be udder chaos. And we can’t have that!

–Julie Tomascik
Texas Farm Bureau

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