Is cattle feeding moving north?

The Nebraska Corn Board has always said that Nebraska has a lot to be gained with a strong cattle on feed market, ethanol industry and corn production -- and the synergies between the three. Do recent trends show this becoming even stronger?

The Nebraska Corn Board's Kelly Brunkhorst provided the following:

The latest National Ag Statistics Service's Cattle on Feed figures show that as of August 1, Nebraska’s cattle on feed numbers are up 1 percent from last year, while the balance of the other top 5 states is down. Although this is usually a seasonal low time for COF numbers, is the tide changing?

A recent presentation by Dr. Darrell Mark (from the University of Nebraska) titled "The Best Place to Feed Cattle: The Economics of Feeding Cattle in the Northern Plains," outlines that we are seeing changes in the economics and gains in the northern plains that have traditionally been held by the southern plains. For example, corn is lower priced in the northern plains compared to Kansas, and interestingly enough, death loss has also been lower (information taken from KSU’s Focus on Feedlot Survey and Land O’Lakes).

One of the additional factors that we believes gives the advantage to the northern plains is ethanol co-products. With higher energy values than corn and currently priced around 75-80% the value of corn on a dry matter basis, these co-products have become a very widely used product in today’s ration. And with continued research from UNL, we will continue to see adoption of usage and advantages in the northern plains.