Beef Cattle

Another animal produced in Louisiana is beef cattle. These are calves that are raised for their meat. Louisiana has about 650,000 beef cows, and these cows produce about 450,000 feeder calves each year. Beef calves grow to about 450 pounds in six to eight months. These feeder calves are put on pasture and then fed corn and other grains in states like Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas until they reach market weight of 1,200 pounds. The cattle are then processed, and the meat is shipped back to Louisiana supermarkets and restaurants. Calves grown in Louisiana furnish enough beef to make 260 million quarter-pound hamburgers. That is enough for everyone in Louisiana to have one hamburger a day for two months.