ne-agri-facts Released: 03/01/2006 Issue 04/2006 NEBRASKA AGRI-FACTS USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service Nebraska Field Office 100 Centennial Mall North, Suite 298, Lincoln, Nebraska 68508 Phone: 402-437-5541 E-mail: nass-ne@nass.usda.gov Internet: www.nass.usda.gov Mark Harris, Director Dean Groskurth, Deputy Director ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Nebraska Farmers, Ranchers and Agribusinesses: The following narrative and tables are from recently published reports by USDA’s Agricultural Statistics Board. These data are direct results of information provided by Nebraska producers and agribusinesses to the surveys conducted each month by this office. Thank you for your response to these surveys. Mark Harris Director ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nebraska Cattle on Feed Up 6 Percent Nebraska feedlots, with capacities of 1,000 or more head, contained 2.49 million cattle on feed on February 1, up 6 percent from last year and 9 percent above February 1, 2004. This is the largest inventory since the series began in 1994. Placements of cattle into feedlots during January totaled 425,000 head, the same as 2005 but 12 percent above 2004. Fed cattle marketings for the month of January totaled 355,000 head, down 1 percent from both last year and two years ago. Other disappearance during January totaled 10,000 head compared with 15,000 head during January 2005 and 20,000 head during January 2004. U.S. Cattle on Feed Up 7 Percent Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 12.1 million head on February 1, 2006. The inventory was 7 percent above February 1, 2005 and 9 percent above February 1, 2004. This is the largest inventory since the series began in 1994. Placements in feedlots during January totaled 2.20 million, 16 percent above 2005 and 25 percent above 2004. Marketings of fed cattle during January totaled 1.81 million, up 2 percent from both 2005 and 2004. Other disappearance totaled 83,000 during January, 14 percent above 2005 but 12 percent below 2004. Cattle on Feed: Number on Feed, Placements, Marketings and Other Disappearance, 1,000+ Capacity Feedlots, by Month, State, and United States, 2005-2006 February 1 January January Jan. Other State Number on Feed 1/ Placements Marketings Disappearance 2/ 2006/ 2006/ 2006/ 2006/ 2005 2006 2005 2005 2006 2005 2005 2006 2005 2005 2006 2005 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1,000 Head % 1,000 Head % 1,000 Head % 1,000 Head % Arizona *328 346 105 *30 39 130 *31 26 84 *2 1 50 California 525 550 105 59 71 120 63 62 98 6 9 150 Colorado 1,060 1,110 105 175 225 129 185 185 100 10 10 100 Idaho 270 265 98 37 46 124 61 51 84 1 5 500 Iowa 465 520 112 77 81 105 60 69 115 2 2 100 Kansas 2,420 2,580 107 475 570 120 450 465 103 15 25 167 Nebraska 2,350 2,490 106 425 425 100 360 355 99 15 10 67 New Mexico 129 146 113 18 18 100 13 13 100 2 2 100 Oklahoma 350 375 107 55 65 118 52 57 110 3 3 100 South Dakota 205 210 102 41 38 93 26 32 123 2 1 50 Texas 2,720 3,030 111 425 540 127 395 420 106 10 10 100 Washington 190 153 81 30 33 110 29 31 107 1 1 100 Other States 330 335 102 41 48 117 47 44 94 4 4 100 United States *11,342 12,110 107 *1,888 2,199 116 *1,772 1,810 102 *73 83 114 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Revised. 1/ Cattle and calves on feed are animals for slaughter market being fed a ration of grain or other concentrates and are expected to produce a carcass that will grade select or better. 2/ Includes death losses, movement from feedlots to pastures and shipments to other feedlots for further feeding. Source: USDA NASS Cattle on Feed, February 24, 2006 Milk Cows: Licensed Dairy Operations, Number, and Milk Produced by Quarter, Nebraska and United States, 2004-2005 Licensed Dairy Milk Cows Production per Production State and Operations Cow Month 2004 2005 2004 2005 2004 2005 2004 2005 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Number 1,000 Head Pounds Million Pounds Nebraska January - March 61 60 267 268 April - June 60 60 266 279 July - September 61 60 254 263 October - December 61 60 262 267 Annual 450 405 61 60 17,197 17,950 1,049 1,077 United States - Annual 66,825 64,555 9,012 9,041 18,967 19,576 170,934 176,989 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Source: USDA NASS Milk Production, February 17, 2006 Chickens: Inventory By Type, Nebraska and United States, December 1, 2004-2005 Nebraska United States Item 2004 2005 2005/2004 2004 2005 2005/2004 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thousands Percent Thousands Percent All Chickens 13,972 13,813 99 453,599 452,816 100 Total Layers 12,003 11,891 99 343,922 347,917 101 Total pullets 1,969 1,922 98 101,429 96,610 95 Other chickens 0 0 8,248 8,289 100 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: USDA NASS Chickens and Eggs 2005 Summary, February 2006 Eggs: Production, Average Number and Eggs per Layer, Nebraska and United States 2004-2005 Nebraska United States Item 2004 2005 2004 2005 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eggs Produced (million) 3,174 3,217 89,091 89,960 Average Number of Layers (thousand) 11,766 11,987 341,956 343,501 Eggs per Layer (number) 270 268 261 262 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: USDA NASS Chickens and Eggs 2005 Summary, February 2006 Fall Potatoes: 2005 Production and Stocks on February 1, 2006 1/ Crop of 2005 Total Stocks State Production Feb. 1, 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thousand Cwt. California 3,240 1,100 Colorado 22,292 11,900 Idaho 116,975 65,000 Maine 15,736 10,000 Michigan 13,920 5,100 Minnesota 17,630 9,000 Montana 3,434 3,300 Nebraska 8,245 4,000 New York 5,226 1,700 North Dakota 20,500 9,000 Oregon 22,023 14,500 Washington 95,480 40,000 Wisconsin 27,880 13,000 Total 13 States 372,581 187,600 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1/ Stocks include processor holdings and most of the seed to plant following year’s crops. Source: USDA NASS Potato Stocks, February 15, 2006 ********************************************* * Ag Economic Surveys * * work for America's farmers! * * * * Make the facts known. Respond to the * * USDA's Agricultural Resource * * Management Survey and help farm * * organizations, policymakers, and others * * make decisions that work for you. * * * * NASS * * Fact Finders for Agriculture * * U.S. Department of Agriculture * * Nebraska Field Office * ********************************************* Crop Summary: Marketing Year Average Price and Value of Production, Nebraska and United States, 2003-2005 Prod. Price Value of Production Crop Unit 2003 2004 2005 2003 2004 2005 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nebraska Dollars 1,000 Dollars Corn for Grain Bushels 2.39 2.02 1.85 2,686,838 2,665,794 2,350,425 Soybeans Bushels 7.02 5.54 5.50 1,279,395 1,210,490 1,294,315 All Hay (baled) Ton 54.00 50.50 47.50 407,290 323,853 326,400 Alfalfa Hay (baled) Ton 55.00 51.00 48.00 287,100 232,713 222,000 All Other Hay (baled) Ton 50.50 49.00 45.00 120,190 91,140 104,400 Winter Wheat Bushels 3.22 3.23 3.25 269,578 197,192 223,080 Sorghum for Grain Cwt. 4.19 3.08 2.85 72,738 55,832 34,713 Dry Edible Beans Cwt. 17.30 22.80 17.40 54,512 54,173 67,338 All Potatoes Cwt. 5.05 5.20 5.80 49,207 48,298 47,821 Sugar Beets 2/ Ton 42.30 39.90 36,420 41,895 Proso Millet Bushels 3.05 3.05 3.30 9,852 10,294 14,025 Sunflower (all) Cwt. 12.10 14.40 14.10 7,003 7,763 19,998 Sunflower (oil) Cwt. 10.70 13.00 11.60 4,622 4,550 9,419 Sunflower (non-oil) Cwt. 16.20 17.00 17.40 2,381 3,213 10,579 Oats Bushels 1.53 1.51 1.60 10,052 5,134 7,008 Barley 1/ Bushels 1.90 1.80 380 292 United States Corn for Grain Bushels 2.42 2.06 1.90 24,476,803 24,381,294 21,040,707 Soybeans Bushels 7.34 5.74 5.50 18,013,753 17,894,948 16,927,898 All Hay (baled) Ton 85.50 92.00 98.00 12,006,783 12,211,868 12,491,263 Alfalfa Hay (baled) Ton 90.80 98.60 106.00 6,724,537 6,973,371 7,319,756 All Other Hay (baled) Ton 70.90 74.60 76.00 5,282,246 5,238,497 5,171,507 All Wheat Bushels 3.40 3.40 3.40 7,929,039 7,283,324 7,140,357 Winter Wheat Bushels 3.27 3.32 3.30 5,597,974 4,948,510 4,924,953 All Potatoes Cwt. 5.89 5.67 6.90 2,685,822 2,575,204 2,903,137 Sugar Beets 2/ Ton 41.40 36.90 1,270,026 1,106,878 Sorghum for Grain Cwt. 4.26 3.19 3.04 964,978 843,464 715,327 Barley Bushels 2.83 2.48 2.45 755,140 698,184 505,962 Dry Edible Beans Cwt. 18.40 25.70 18.40 422,793 452,871 526,044 Sunflower (all) Cwt. 12.10 13.70 11.50 316,214 272,732 472,470 Sunflower (oil) Cwt. 11.30 12.80 10.00 254,076 223,836 329,424 Sunflower (non-oil) Cwt. 15.20 17.20 16.30 62,138 48,896 143,046 Oats Bushels 1.48 1.48 1.58 224,910 178,327 187,275 Proso Millet Bushels 2.95 2.83 3.35 33,730 42,611 45,117 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Estimates discontinued in 2005. 2/ Estimates for 2005 published in July 2006. Note: All prices in this report are marketing year average prices which do not include allowances or adjustments for commodities under government loan at the end of the marketing year, commodities forfeited to the Commodity Credit Corporation, loan deficiency payments, direct and counter cyclical payments or disaster payments. Source: USDA NASS Crop Values 2005 Summary, February 2006 ************************************************************************************************ * 2005 county data for wheat and oats is now available at: * * http://www.nass.usda.gov/Data_and_Statistics/Quick_Stats/index.asp * * * * 2005 count data for corn, soybeans, sorghum, and sunflowers will be available after March 1.* ************************************************************************************************ Hired Workers Up 3 Percent, Wage Rates Up 3 Percent From a Year Ago There were 796,000 hired workers on the Nation’s farms and ranches the week of January 8-14, 2006, up 3 percent from a year ago. Of these hired workers, 616,000 workers were hired directly by farm operators. Agricultural service employees working on farms and ranches made up the remaining 180,000 workers. Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage of $10.11 per hour during the January 2006 reference week, up 33 cents from a year earlier. Field workers received an average of $9.15 per hour, up 44 cents from last January. Livestock workers earned $9.25 per hour compared with $9.20 a year earlier. The field and livestock worker combined wage rate, at $9.19 per hour, was up 29 cents from last year. The number of hours worked averaged 38.2 hours for hired workers during the survey week, up 3 percent from a year ago. The largest increases in number of hired farm workers from last year occurred in the Pacific (Oregon and Washington), Corn Belt I (Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio), Delta (Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi), and Northeast II (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) regions. The largest decreases in the number of hired farm workers from a year ago were in California, and in the Southern Plains (Oklahoma and Texas), Northern Plains (Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota), and Appalachian II (Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia) regions. Farm Labor: Number and Wage Rates for Type of Workers and All Hired Workers, Selected Regions and United States, January 9-15, 2005 & January 8-14, 2006 1/ -------------------Wage Rates----------------- -----------Type of work---------- Region 2/ Hired All Hired Field & Workers Workers Field Livestock Livestock 2005 2006 2005 2006 2005 2006 2005 2006 2005 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thousands Dollars Per Hour Lake 43 43 10.61 10.73 9.65 10.33 9.67 9.30 9.66 9.69 Cornbelt I 28 37 10.06 11.33 9.40 11.79 8.95 9.51 9.18 10.55 Cornbelt II 21 25 10.63 11.50 9.16 9.61 10.28 10.69 10.07 10.52 Northern Plains 27 23 9.82 10.31 10.26 10.59 8.60 9.25 9.20 9.75 Southern Plains 50 43 9.56 8.89 8.01 7.53 9.35 8.74 8.75 8.17 Mountain I 12 17 9.76 8.99 9.42 8.68 8.82 8.17 8.95 8.27 Mountain II 17 22 9.93 9.32 7.37 8.12 9.65 8.64 8.83 8.42 United States 589 616 9.78 10.11 8.71 9.15 9.20 9.25 8.90 9.19 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1/ Excludes agricultural service workers. 2/ Regions consist of the following: Lake: Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin; Cornbelt I: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio; Cornbelt II: Iowa, Missouri; Northern Plains: Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota; Southern Plains: Oklahoma, Texas; Mountain I: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming; Mountain II: Colorado, Nevada, Utah. Source: USDA NASS Farm Labor, February 17, 2006