Today, more than 3.2 million people farm in the United States and in that 3.2 million, nearly 70% of farmers in the United States are involved with livestock farming. About 40% of the agricultural industry is made up of livestock and is one of the fastest growing parts of the agricultural industry. Feedlot farms are run across the world and are similar to regular farms, except animals are kept in larger quantities and are sold for market. Some of these animals are born on these farms so they can keep the producing animals for market. The most common type of feedlot farms are involved with production of cows for meat and dairy. From experience, I know what taking care of cows and what milking them is like, I do know that the cows we raise are taken for meat at a certain point in their life and that the milk we produced, before we stopped a few years ago, was going to provide for others that we maybe don’t know. Around 42,000 dairy farms are across the United States, and in that 42,000 dairy farms 95% are family owned and operated, including 9.31 million dairy cows.
Chickens are also produced in livestock operations for meat and eggs, as well as chicken feathers, which are slowly becoming more and more useful in the agricultural industry and about 9 billion chickens and almost 8.6 billion eggs are produced each year in the United States. Ducks are also used to produce meat and can also be used just like chicken eggs, and although duck farming is slightly less common than chicken farming, the United States eats more than 26 million ducks per year. Another kind of bird farming is geese farming and they are treated the same way as chickens and ducks, and that is they are typically put into either free-range pens or indoor coops, geese are also typically hunted during goose season, but their meat can be bought in stores across the United States. Turkey farming is also common in the United States and some turkey farmers also slaughter the turkeys for food for themselves and for their families, while some people hunt their own turkeys during turkey season; 46 million turkeys are also eaten every year, especially around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Goat farming is another type of livestock farming that is not uncommon in the United States.
My family and I currently farm Nubian goats for milk and we do take good care of our goats, we take our time to de-horn and de-worm our goats to ensure people when we sell them that they are healthy. Goats that are sold for meat are less common, meaning that not as many goats are eaten in the United States each year as cows and chickens and each year, only 1 million goats are eaten in the United States each year. Just as I said at the beginning of this writing, there are 3.2 million farmers in the United States, that is less than 2% of the population of the United States. I know what taking cares of animals is like and I know that it is not an easy job, but I do know that the work my family and I do, does feed a lot of people. From cows to chickens and a lot more animals, farmers do work hard to feed the world. @starkcountyagriculture
Jonathon's Blog 