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Kentucky Dairy Facts

Number of dairy producers: 1,368

Number of dairy cows: 112,000

Total pounds of milk produced: 1.46 billion

Average gallons produced per cow per year: 1,580

Value of milk produced: $192 million

Economic value to Kentucky: $909 million

Top six producing dairy counties: 

Barren, Adair, Fleming, Marion, Metcalfe, Lincoln

National ranking in cow numbers: 19th

(2003 Kentucky Agricultural Statistics Service)

Milk is Kentucky's official drink!

Dairy Links

"Got Milk" for Kids - www.got-milk.com

WOW! How about that cow!

• All cows are females. (The males are called bulls.)
• Cows have four stomachs. (You have just one!)
• Cows often have their ears pierced-with I.D. tags.
• A cow can't give milk until she's given birth to a calf.
• The average cow produces 90 glasses of milk each day.  That's enough for 30 children to have 3 glasses of milk a day.
• Cows provide 30% of the world's milk. Water buffalo, camels, goats, sheep, horses, and reindeer are also milked.
• A cow weighs about 1400 pounds.  That probably 10-25 times what you weigh!
• A cow's udder can hold 25-50 pounds of milk. 
• A Holstein's spots are like a fingerprint or snowflake.  No two cows have exactly the same pattern of spots.
• A cow gives nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.
• Straight from the cow, the temperature of cow's milk is about 97 degrees Fahrenheit.