Hamburgers, and More
The average American eats almost forty hamburgers each year. That adds up to almost thirteen billion burgers per year, and if they were all quarter-pounders, that would take 3.25 billion pounds of ground beef! That’s a lot of beef. Where does it all come from? We will dig into that today, but fair warning – some of you may not like the answers.
Beef Cattle are raised for their meat.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2024 – There were 87.2 million head of cattle and calves on U.S. farms as of Jan. 1, 2024, according to the Cattle report published today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). On average, up to 36 million of these animals will be harvested each year. Let’s face it: these animals are raised for one purpose and one purpose only – for food.
In order to change a 1,300-pound beef animal into an edible meat product, butchers first have to convert it into a carcass by removing the hide, head, and internal organs. On average, only 62 percent of the animal’s original weight remains, resulting in an average carcass weight of 806 pounds.
After the carcass is properly aged, it is ready to be broken down into retail cuts. On average, 21 percent of each carcass is inedible bone, fat, and connective tissue. Once the carcass is fabricated and inedible objects are removed, a whole carcass will yield about 639 pounds of
edible beef product.
Each beef carcass contains more than 200 muscles. Some of these muscles will become mouthwatering steaks such as Filet Mignon, while others may have little value as a steak or a roast and are directly converted into ground beef products. Ground beef is also made up of bits and pieces that are trimmed from steaks and roasts during the preparation process. Approximately 38 percent of the 639 pounds (=242 pounds) of edible beef products will be converted into ground beef. The remainder is cut into your favorite steaks and roasts as specified. In other words, animal will yield 968 hamburgers.
Extra Credit: See how ground beef is made (4:53)
But Beef Cattle are not the only source of ground beef.
Okay, here is where the conversation about ground beef gets controversial. Almost 21% of our ground beef comes from milk cows. That’s right, dairy cattle are slaughtered in huge numbers each year. When dairy cows complete their life as milk-producing animals, they’re sold as beef animals; approximately 3 million of them are sold every year for this purpose. This typically happens when a dairy cow is 4 to 5 years of age, resulting in meat that’s tougher than that of most beef breeds harvested around 18 months. That tougher meat is generally ground up into hamburger meat.
WARNING: If you are an animal lover, you may not want to read this next part.
The dairy industry depends on a cow producing milk. A cow produces roughly 2,031 pounds of milk per month. A dairy cow cannot produce milk unless she is pregnant or has recently given birth. Industrial-scale dairy farms separate mother cows from their calves, often within hours of birth. (Because they cannot produce milk, these dairy farms often send male calves to slaughter or to be raised as veal, and then slaughtered.) The milk is intended for their infants. In order to produce milk on an ongoing basis, factory farms repeatedly impregnate female cows through artificial insemination. Industrial dairy cows go through their first pregnancy when they are around 25 months old. After giving birth, mothers lactate for about 10 months. Then, they are impregnated again.
This cycle continues until cows are around 5 years old. At this point, their bodies are considered “spent” and no longer useful to the industry. Spent cows are killed and sold as low-grade beef or for other uses, including ground beef.
The bottom line is this: 20% of the meat in your hamburger likely came from a dairy cow. Maybe you did not want to know that, but now you do.
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