COLUMN: Yee-ha, Ag Week is a rootin’ good time
From the tractors and life-size heifer on the sidewalks, many of you have figured out it is Agriculture Week. But you probably don’t know any more about the farming or agriculture life than what you saw on Reading Rainbow or National Geographic.
Here’s a few quick facts you may find interesting:
* A duck’s quack does not echo, and no one knows why.
* There are fewer than 2 million farmers in America.
* It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
* Hamburger meat from a single steer would make 720 quarter-pound patties.
* Throughout the entire world, food is most affordable in the United States. (We pay only 10.9 percent of our income on food, whereas in other countries it is as high as 50 percent.)
* It takes just 40 days to earn money for food for one year, yet it takes 129 days to pay for our taxes for one year.
* Farmers and ranchers provide food and habitat for 75 percent of the nation’s wildlife.
* A typical dairy cow weighs 1,400 lbs. and produces 60 lbs. of milk (7 gallons) per day.
* Bees must collect the nectar from 2000 flowers to make one tablespoonful of honey.
* The average garden-variety caterpillar has 248 muscles in its head.
* Computers are used by 83.3 percent of America’s farmers.
* Agriculture is the nation’s largest employer, with more than 22 million people working in one phase or another.
* The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds.
* A flea expert is a pullicologist.
* A shrimp’s heart is in its head.
* Montana Mountain Goats will butt their heads so hard their hooves fall off.
* A baby oyster is called a spat.
* It is possible to lead a cow upstairs, but not downstairs because their knees cannot bend properly in order to walk back down.
* A horse cannot vomit; neither can a rabbit.
* City Ordinance No. 352 in Pacific Grove, Calif. states it is a misdemeanor to kill or threaten a butterfly.
* Other than fruit, honey is the only natural food that is made without destroying any kind of life.
* There are 145,156 farms owned by U.S. women.
If you enjoyed these facts about American agriculture, join the College of Ag at this week’s remaining activities. Wednesday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. we will be on the Quad with various activities for all farming fans to participate in; KIXX 96 radio station and their Hummer, a free watermelon bust, a mechanical bull ride for $1, a horseless rodeo (yes, it is possible), department booths, a chili cook-off and authentic Western-style shish kebabs. Also, at 3 p.m. Tim Williams, the agronomy division manager at IFA, is our featured guest speaker in the Taggart Student Center Auditorium.
Milo Andrus in the ASUSU agriculture senator. Comments can be sent to milandrus@yahoo.com.