Missouri Animal Agriculture

The MFA Children's Barn will serve as an overview of animal agriculture in Missouri and across the Midwest. Animal agriculture plays a vital role in our daily lives, producing meat, eggs, cheese, ice cream, leather and many other products regularly consumed by Americans. Its role in the Missouri economy is significant, demonstrated by Missouri’s rank as a leading cattle producing state in the U.S., second only to Texas.

The Missouri Agricultural Statistics Service calculated the following:

Nationally in 2006, Missouri was…

• No. 2 in cattle operations, producing over two million beef cows
• No. 5 in turkeys raised
• No. 6 in number of cattle and calves
• No. 7 in hogs and pigs raised and milk cow operations
• No. 10 in sheep operations
• No. 13 in hog operations
• No. 15 in egg production
• No. 16 in total chickens
• No. 19 in number of milk cows
• No. 21 in milk production and wool production
• No. 21 in sheep and lambs

In 2006, Missouri was home to:

	Total	Percent of U.S. Total
Beef Cattle	2.15 million	6.5%
Cattle and calves	4.45 million	4.6%
Turkeys	20 million	7.6%
Hogs and Pigs	2.75 million	4.4%
Chickens	9.4 million	2.1%
Sheep and lambs	78,000	1.3%
Milk cows	114,000	1.2%