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Feed

Corn Going to Grain-Finished Beef Cattle   
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  • 6.4% of total corn produced in the U.S. is fed to feedlot cattle.
  • Corn acreage used to feed feedlot cattle is 0.26% of total U.S. land area, 1.5% of total U.S. cropland acres, and 6.8% 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: 2023
Period Type: Annual
Output: 

  1. Heifers Slaughtered, Measured in Head (10,033,600 Head)
  2. Steers Slaughtered, Measured in Head (15,075,500 Head) 

On NASS (Crop Production 2023 Summary (cornell.edu): Pg. 96, take the corn area planted for grain in bushels for 2023 (389,694,460 metric tons = 15,341,452,531 bushels), and the avg. yield per acre for 2023 (11.13 metric tons/hectare = 165.5 bushels/acre).

On USDA NASS Charts & Maps of Corn Acres (cornac.pdf (usda.gov)), harvested corn acreage in US in 2023 was 86,500,000 acres.  

On USDA ERS 2012 Major Land Uses, which is most recent (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 (dof) on average, ~90% DM (dry matter) of corn, and that feed consists of 50% corn at 22 lb DMI (dry matter intake) (22lb x 0.50 = 11lbs corn intake per day per head), then: [11lbs corn x 180dof x (10,033,600 Head Heifers + 15,075,500 Head Cattle)] / 0.9 = 55,240,020,000 lbs corn fed.
  2. 55,240,020,000 lbs corn fed / 56 lbs/bushel = 986,428,928 bushels corn fed.
  3. 986,428,928 bushels corn fed / 15,341,452,531 bushels = 6.4% of total corn produced in the US is fed to feedlot cattle.
  4. 986,428,928 bushels corn fed / 165.5 bushels/acre = 5,960,295 acres required, or 9,313 square miles (as compared to Houston Metro area of 9,444 square miles from Facts and Figures (houstontx.gov)) 
  5. 5,960,295 acres required / 86,500,000 total harvested corn acres = 6.8% of harvested corn acres used as feed.
  6. 5,960,295 acres required / 391,975,000 total US cropland acres = 1.5% of Total US Cropland Acres used for corn to feed feedlot cattle.
  7. 5,960,295 acres required / 2,260,420,000 total US land acres = 0.26% of Total US Land Area used for corn to feed feedlot cattle.  

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