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Feed

Corn Going to Grain-Finished Beef Cattle   
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  • 7% of total corn produced in the U.S. is fed to feedlot cattle
  • Corn acreage used to feed feedlot cattle is 0.2% of total U.S. land area, 1.4% of total U.S. cropland acres, and 7% of total U.S. harvested corn acres. 
  • The amount of U.S. land used to produce corn to feed grain-finished cattle is less than the size of the Houston Metro area.

Data Sources & Criteria:

On NASS Quick Stats (USDA/NASS QuickStats Ad-hoc Query Tool), the following criteria were used:   

Program: Survey 
Sector: Animals & Products
Group: Livestock
Commodity: Cattle
Data Item: ‘CATTLE, HEIFERS, SLAUGHTER, COMMERCIAL – SLAUGHTERED, MEASURED IN HEAD,’ and ‘CATTLE, STEERS, SLAUGHTER, COMMERCIAL – SLAUGHTERED, MEASURED IN HEAD
Year: 2020
Period Type: Annual
Output: 

  1. Heifers Slaughtered, Measured in Head (9,445,400 Head)
  2. Steers Slaughtered, Measured in Head (15,856,300 Head) 

On NASS (Crop Production 2020 Summary 01/12/2021 (cornell.edu): Pg.101, take the corn area planted for grain in bushels for 2020 (14,182,479,000 bushels), and the avg. yield per acre for 2020 (172 bushels/acre).

On USDA NASS Charts & Maps of Corn Acres (cornac.pdf (usda.gov)), harvested corn acreage in US in 2020 was 82,500,000 acres.  

On USDA ERS 2012 Major Land Uses (USDA ERS - Major Land Uses), use US Total Land Area (2,260,420,000 acres) and US Total Cropland Acres (391,975,000 acres).

Calculations:   

  1. Assuming 180 days on feed on average, ~90% DM of corn, and that feed consists of 50% corn at 22 lb DMI (22lb x 0.50 = 11lbs corn intake per day per head), then:   [11lbs corn x 180dof x (9,445,400 Head + 15,856,300 Head)] / 0.9 = 55,663,700,000 lbs corn fed
  2. 55,663,700,000 lbs corn fed / 56 = 993,995,357 bushels corn fed
  3. 993,995,357 bushels corn fed / 14,182,479,000 bushels = 7% of total corn produced in the US is fed to feedlot cattle
  4. 993,995,357 bushels corn fed / 172 bushels/acre = 5,779,042 acres required, or 9,029 square miles (as compared to Houston Metro area of 9,444 square miles from Facts and Figures (houstontx.gov)) 
  5. 5,779,042 acres required / 82,500,000 total harvested corn acres = 7% of harvested corn acres used as feed.
  6. 5,779,042 acres required / 391,975,000 total US cropland acres = 1.4% of Total US Cropland Acres used for corn to feed feedlot cattle.
  7. 5,779,042 acres required / 2,260,420,000 total US land acres = 0.2% of Total US Land Area used for corn to feed feedlot cattle.  

*Special thanks to Dr. Jessica Gilreath for developing these calculations.