May is the season of severe storms in Oklahoma. The week leading up to Memorial Day included numerous severe storms and several tornadoes in the state with lots of damage and, most regrettably, several injuries and fatalities. A bit more unusual this year is the persistent pattern of wet weather. 

The beef production forecast for 2019 was lowered slightly by 20 million pounds from the previous month’s forecast to 27.3 billion pounds. This adjustment is based on lower expected carcass weights partly offset by a greater anticipated number of cows to be slaughtered this year.

Last week, China announced a retaliatory tariff increase on a revised target list of $60 billion worth of U.S. products in response to President Donald Trump’s tariff hike to 25 percent on $200 billion in Chinese goods. 

The latest USDA-NASS Cattle on Feed (COF) report pegged April 1 feedlot inventories at 11.96 million head – 102 percent of last year and a record April level for the data series, which started in 1996.

1. Corn will be king (again)

The USDA Prospective Plantings report was released at the end of March and showed estimates of corn regaining the crown from soybeans as the crop with the most planted acreage in the U.S. Prospective corn planted area is estimated at 92.8 million acres, which is 4 percent or about 3.66 million acres above last year.

USDA-AMS estimates U.S. beef production for the year to date to be down 1 percent year over year. Total cattle slaughter is up 0.7 percent so far this year over last year.

The March Cattle on Feed report brings the feedlot data up to date and back on schedule following the federal government shutdown. February feedlot placements were 102.2 percent of last year.

Normally, the cattle and beef production discussion in the February report would reflect cattle inventory data from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Cattle report in this month’s report. However, due to the government shutdown, the Cattle report was not to be released until Feb. 28.

The Jan. 1, 2019, inventory of all cattle and calves in the U.S. grew to 94.76 million, head, up 0.5 percent from one year ago. This puts the number of cattle in the country just slightly higher than 2009 levels after dropping to a low of 88.53 million head in 2014, with an increase of 6.23 million head in the last five years.