Scope
This database contains statistics on four feed
grains (corn, grain sorghum, barley, and oats),
foreign coarse grains (feed grains plus rye, millet,
and mixed grains), hay, animal unit indexes of
grain and roughage, rail rate indexes, and grain
shipments. This includes data published in the
monthly Feed Outlook and the annual Feed
Yearbook reports. However, the database generally covers
a longer time period.
Marketing Years
Annual and quarterly supply-use statistics are
on a marketing-year basis. Marketing years span
calendar years and are often written to include
both calendar years, e.g., 1998/99. This example
refers to the marketing year beginning September
1, 1998 and ending August 31, 1999. In the database,
only the first year of the marketing year is used,
e.g., data for the 1998/99 marketing year are
stored as 1998 data. Marketing years differ by
commodity and are as follows:
- Corn begins September 1
and is comprised of four quarters (September-November,
December-February, March-May, and June-August).
Prior to 1986, the marketing year began October
1.
- Sorghum begins September
1 and is comprised of four quarters (September-November,
December-February, March-May, and June-August).
Prior to 1986, the marketing year began October
1.
- Barley begins June 1 and
is comprised of four quarters (June-August,
September-November, December-February, and March-May).
- Oats begins June 1 and is
comprised of four quarters (June-August, September-November,
December-February, and March-May).
- Foreign coarse grains are
an aggregation on the basis of local (producing-country)
marketing years, except adjusted imports which
are on an October/September year.
- Hay begins May 1. Hay stocks
are reported May 1 and December 1. Prior to
1987, stocks were reported on January 1.
- Processed feeds, feed
concentrates,
and grain-consuming animal units
begin October 1.
Sources
Most of the data are from USDA's National
Agricultural Statistics Service and Agricultural
Marketing Service; the U.S. Department of Commerce,
Bureau of the Census; the Department of Labor;
the Association of American Railroads; the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers; and data calculated by
ERS.
Updates
Most data are updated/revised monthly. White
corn, processed feeds, and feed concentrates are
updated annually.
Conversion Factors
Several units of measure are used in this database.
Here are a few useful conversion factors:
- Corn, 1 bushel = 56 pounds
- Sorghum, 1 bushel = 56 pounds
- Barley, 1 bushel = 48 pounds
- Oats, 1 bushel = 32 pounds
- 1 metric ton = 2,204.622 pounds
- 1 U.S. (short) ton = 2,000 pounds
Data Items
Here are important details about the items in
the database, such as which data are preliminary
or changes to data series over time.
Corn
- Annual values for the 2 most recent years
are preliminary and/or forecasts. Privately
owned ending stocks include government quantity
under loan and farmer-owned reserve.
- Total corn trade (imports and exports) includes
grain only (white, yellow, seed, and relief),
dry-process products (cornmeal for relief, as
grain, and grits), and wet-process products
(cornstarch, sugar dextrose, glucose, and high-fructose
corn syrup).
Sorghum
- Annual values for the 2 most recent years
are preliminary and/or forecasts. Privately
owned ending stocks include government quantity
under loan and farmer-owned reserve.
- Exports include seed and unmilled sorghum.
- Imports are grain only.
Barley
- Annual values for the 2 most recent years
are preliminary and/or forecasts. Privately
owned ending stocks include government quantity
under loan and farmer-owned reserve.
- Barley cash price, No. 2 or better, feed,
Duluth. Prior to June 1977, reported as barley,
No. 3 or better. Prior to March 1987, the reporting
point was Minneapolis.
- Exports include grain only (grain for malting
purposes, other) and barley malt.
- Imports include grain only (barley for malting,
other), pearl barley, milled barley, and malting
barley.
Oats
- Annual values for the 2 most recent years
are preliminary and/or forecasts. Privately
owned ending stocks include government quantity
under loan and farmer-owned reserve.
- Exports include grain and oatmeal (bulk and
packaged).
- Imports include grain (hulled or unhulled),
unhulled oats fit and unfit for human consumption,
and oatmeal fit for human consumption.
- Data on world
trade for oats are available from USDA's
Foreign Agricultural Service Production,
Supply, and Distribution (PS&D) Database.
Feed Grains
- Annual values for the 2 most recent years
are preliminary and/or forecasts. Privately
owned ending stocks include total government
loans (original and reseal).
Coarse Grains
- Annual values for the 2 most recent years
are preliminary and/or forecasts.
- Imports
are adjusted to an October-September
trade year and exclude intra-European Union
trade.
Hay
- Beginning December 1, 1986, hay stocks survey
reference data was changed from January 1 to
December 1.
Farm Prices
- Average prices received by farmers for corn,
sorgum, barley, and oats do not include an
allowance for loans outstanding and government
purchases.
- The most recent month
is preliminary.
- Annual season-average price for corn,
sorgum, barley, oats, and hay is based on
monthly prices weighted by monthly marketings.
- Annual season-average price for the current
marketing year is published—in World
Supply and Demand Estimates—as a
projected price range and reported in the database
as a projected high and low value of the
range, as well as a mid-point estimate.
Byproduct Feed Prices
- Meat and bone meal, Central United States.
Before December 1991, reported as Kansas City.
- Soybean meal, 44-percent solvent, Central
Illinois. Prior to January 1999, reported as
Decatur.
- Cane molasses, New Orleans. Prior to January
1977, referred to as blackstrap molasses.
Processed Corn Product Prices
- Data are reported for cornmeal, brewers grits,
corn syrup, dextrose sugar, and cornstarch.
- The most recent monthly price is preliminary.
Supply and Use
- U.S. supply and use data are from USDA's World
Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE).
- Foreign (World less U.S.) supply and use data are from USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service. Country-level data are available from Production, Supply, and Distribution (PS&D) Database.
- To retrieve historical U.S. supply and use data using a custom
query, select "Supply and Use" in Step 1, an attribute in Step 2 (only one selection is possible), your desired commodities and frequency in Steps 3 and 4, and "United States of America" in Step 5. The result of this query will retrieve the type of data seen in Yearbook
Tables 4-7.
- To retrieve historical foreign supply and use data using a custom
query, select "Supply and Use" in Step 1, an attribute in Step 2 (only one selection is possible), your desired commodities and frequency in Steps 3 and 4, and "World less U.S." in Step 5. The result of this query will retrieve the type of data seen in Yearbook
Table 2.
Imports and Exports
- Data are reported for both U.S. and world trade.
- U.S. trade data are calculated from U.S. Census data on a monthly basis, and then accumulated to total quarterly and annual data. The monthly Census trade data are released after USDA's World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) are released. Therefore, the most recent quarter in million bushels reflects the WASDE estimate and trade in bushels reflects current Census data. World trade data comes from USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service Production, Supply, and Distribution (PS&D) Database.
- To make a custom query for U.S. trade in bushels (Census data), select "Exports and imports" in Step 1, "Imports" or "Exports and shipments" in Step 2, your desired commodities and frequency in Steps 3 and 4, and "United States" in Step 5. The result of this query will retrieve the type of data seen in Yearbook
Tables 18-21.
- To make a custom query for U.S. trade to or from specified countries (Census data), select "Exports and imports" in Step 1, "Imports to specified countries" or "Exports to specified countries" in Step 2, your desired commodities and frequency in Steps 3 and 4, and the country or countries in Step 5. The result of this query will retrieve the type of data seen in Yearbook
Tables 22-26 and 32-35.
- To make a custom query for U.S. trade in million bushels (WASDE data), select "Supply and Use" in Step 1, "Imports" or "Exports and shipments" in Step 2, your desired commodities and frequency in Steps 3 and 4, and "United States" in Step 5. The result of this query will retrieve the type of data seen in Yearbook
Tables 3-7.
- To make a custom query for world trade—on a local marketing-year basis (PS&D), select "Supply and Use" in Step 1, "Imports" or "Exports and shipments" in Step 2, your desired commodities and frequency in Steps 3 and 4, and "World less U.S." in Step 5.
- "World less U.S." is world trade excluding U.S. imports and exports.
- Adjusted imports and exports are synchronized to reflect the international trade year (October-September) and to exclude trade among European Union countries (i.e., intra-EU trade).
- To make a custom query for world trade—on an adjusted trade-year basis (PS&D data), select "Supply and Use" in Step 1, "World imports, adjusted (Oct./Sept. trade year; excludes intra-EU trade)" or "World exports, adjusted (Oct./Sept. trade year; excludes intra-EU trade)" in Step 2, your desired commodities and frequency in Steps 3 and 4, and "World less U.S." in Step 5.
Index of Animal Units
- A standard unit for comparing actual animal
numbers for all types of livestock and poultry.
An animal unit is based on the dry-weight quantity
of a feed consumed by the average milk cow during
the base period. A set of factors is developed
for each type of livestock and poultry by relating
feed consumption for each type of livestock
to the feed consumed by the average milk cow.
- The index is reported in million pounds
of feed units. A feed unit is equivalent to
the feeding value of a pound of corn with 78.6
percent total digestible nutrients.
Processed Feeds, Quantity Fed
- Quantity is adjusted for stocks, production,
foreign trade, and nonfeed uses where applicable.
- Soybean meal includes use in edible soy
products and shipments to U.S. territories.
- Total grain protein feeds excludes brewers
dried grains and distillers dried grains.
- Miscellaneous byproduct feeds is an allowance
for hominy feed, oat millfeed, and screenings.
- Total other processed feeds excludes dried
and molasses beet pulp and inedible molasses.
Animal Product/Feed Price Ratios
- Annual values are simple averages of monthly
ratios for the marketing year.
- Hog/corn ratio is the number of bushels
of corn equal in value to 100 pounds of all
hogs, live weight.
- Steer and heifer/corn ratio is the number
of bushels of corn equal in value to 100 pounds
of steers and heifers, live weight.
- Milk/feed ratio is the number of pounds
of 16-percent protein mixed dairy feed equal
in value to 1 pound of whole milk. The methodology
utilizes major raw feed component prices from Agricultural
Prices, published by USDA's National
Agricultural Statistics Service. The major
feed components of corn and soybeans account
for 83-91 percent of the total ingredients
in the rations.
- Broiler/feed ratio is the number of pounds
of broiler grower feed equal in value to one
pound of broiler, live weight. The methodology
utilizes major raw feed component prices from Agricultural
Prices, published by USDA's National
Agricultural Statistics Service. The major
feed components of corn and soybeans account
for 83-91 percent of the total ingredients
in the rations.
- Egg/feed ratio is the number of pounds of
laying feed equal in value to one dozen market
eggs. The methodology utilizes major raw feed
component prices from Agricultural Prices,
published by USDA's National Agricultural
Statistics Service. The major feed components
of corn and soybeans account for 83-91 percent
of the total ingredients in the rations.
- Turkey/feed ratio is the number of pounds
of turkey grower feed equal in value to 1 pound
of turkey, live weight. The methodology utilizes
major raw feed component prices from Agricultural
Prices, published by USDA's National
Agricultural Statistics Service. The major
feed components of corn and soybeans account
for 83-91 percent of the total ingredients
in the rations.
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