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The Bates County bird, tree and flowers as chosen by the April 25, 1995 elementary school election.  The winners were the Northern Cardinal, the Redbud tree and the Shooting Star flower (see below).

 

Population Characteristics

Population, 2000
Total county population

16,754
Density - people per square mile

20
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census

 

Weather

Period

Average
Annual Precipitation 41.85 inches
Wettest Month - June 6 inches
Driest Month - February 1.5 inches
Annual Snowfall 14 inches
Coldest Month - January 29.9 degrees
Warmest Month - July 78.6 degrees


Bates County's Agricultural Base

Bates County is agriculturally diverse, and covering a land area of 849 square miles, is the fifth largest county in the State of Missouri  and has the most townships, 24.  It has the following ranking among Missouri's 114 other counties:

Beef Cows #4
Cattle & Calves #6
Wheat Production #8
Hay Production #10
Soybean Production #11
Sorghum Production #14
Corn Production #24

The largest corn crop ever produced in Bates County occurred in 1879 with 5,441,503 bushels harvested from 130,783 acres.  The largest number of corn acres ever harvested occurred in 1899 with 176,910 acres harvested.  To put agricultural progress in perspective, the corn crop in 2001 was 4,948,000 bushels, but it only took 36,800 acres to produce.  Average corn yields have increased from 24 bushels per acre in 1899 to over 134 bushels per acre in 2001.

The smallest corn crop in recorded history occurred in 1850 with only 120,340 bushels harvested from an unknown number of acres.  The second smallest crop occurred in 1980 with only 306,000 bushels.  The lowest yield per acre was in 1930 with an average of 7.5 bushels per acre.

Farm animal populations peaked in 1900 with large numbers of sheep, hogs, and cattle.  Total for the three species was 151,883 head with hogs making up well over half of the total.

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