Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11 million head on May 1, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in its report last week. The inventory was 2 percent above May 1, 2016.

The report was above analysts’ pre-report estimates that total cattle inventories would be up 0.9 percent from a year ago, noted Steve Meyer and Len Steiner of The Daily Livestock Report.

There were 680,000 head of cattle in Iowa feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 head or more as of May 1, the USDA said. This was up 6 percent from a year ago.

Placements in U.S. feedlots during April totaled 1.85 million head, 11 percent above 2016, the report said. The report was above analysts’ pre-report estimates that placements would be up 7.2 percent from a year ago, Meyer and Steiner noted.

There were 95,000 head of cattle placed in Iowa feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 or more head during April, up 22 percent from last year, the report said.

Marketings of U.S.-fed cattle during April totaled 1.7 million head, 3 percent above 2016, the USDA said. Analysts’ pre-report estimates predicted U.S. marketings to be up 1.7 percent compared to 2016.

There were 82,000 head of cattle marketed from Iowa feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 or more head during April, the USDA said. This was up 9 percent from 2016.

Replant levels historic

Snow and rainy conditions earlier this planting season has caused record replanting in much of the eastern Corn Belt, DTN reported.

"As far as I know, this will be an historic replant year, particularly for corn," Ryan Parkin, director of sales and marketing for Beck’s Hybrids, told DTN.

He said Beck’s is seeing three times their normal replant rate, which usually hovers just under 3 percent. The areas with the most replant demand so far are Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Missouri. Parts of the Great Lakes states, Iowa and Kentucky have been affected, seed companies told DTN. AgriGold agronomy manager Mike Kavanaugh said his team in the eastern Corn Belt is reporting overall replant rates ranging from 10 percent up to 30 percent and 40 percent of planted fields across all seed companies.

A mid-May storm after growers had replanted their crops has led to a second corn replant mostly for growers in Illinois and Indiana.

E15 milestone

Drivers across the United States have logged more than 1 billion miles on E15, a fuel made from 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline, according to Growth Energy. The Environmental Protection Ag­­ency (EPA) approves E15 for use in any vehicle manufactured since 2001, which equates to nine out of 10 cars on the road today.

DDGS sales hold steady

The United States exported 6.9 million metric tons of dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) from September 2016 to March 2017, a 6 percent increase year-over-year, the USDA reported. This steady pace of exports occurred even with a dramatic drop in purchases from China, the largest buyer.

In January 2017, the Chinese government started enforcing anti-dumping and countervailing duties on U.S. DDGS, leading to a 69 percent decrease in DDGS exports to China from 2015/2016’s sales of 1.9 million tons. However, sales to Turkey, Thailand, New Zealand, Egypt and Peru have increased, the U.S. Grains Council noted. The USDA projects DDGS exports will reach 10.4 million tons by the end of the marketing year in August, around the five-year average of 10.2 million tons.

Milk production higher

Milk production in the 23 major dairy states during April totaled 17.2 billion pounds, up 2 percent from April 2016, according to a USDA report. The number of milk cows on farms in the 23 states was 8.72 million head, 81,000 head more than April 2016. Production per cow in the 23 major states averaged 1,967 pounds for April, 20 pounds above April 2016. This is the highest production per cow for the month of April since the 23-state series began in 2003.

There were 217,000 head of dairy cows on Iowa farms during April, the report said. This was up 5,000 head from last year. Iowa dairy cows produced 432 million pounds of milk during April, up 422 million pounds in 2016.