Imperial Beef – Nebraska Factoids
- The Nebraska Beef Cattle Industry is the state’s single largest industry and the engine that powers the state’s economy. The multiplied impact of the $6.2 billion in cattle sales each year is $12.1 billion. Cattle-related employment means income for businesses up and down main street in towns and cities across the state. In short, the beef cattle industry has an unmistakable impact on other economies in Nebraska.
- The State of Nebraska markets approximately 5.1 million head of market-ready cattle annually.
- Imperial Beef is located in Chase County, Nebraska – just 1 mile south of the Perkins County, Nebraska line. In 2008, Chase County produced 28,600,000 bushels of corn and Perkins County produced 27,500,000 bushels. 97% of Chase County’s and 92% of Perkins County’s corn was grown under irrigation with water provided by the Ogallala Aquifer.
- Imperial Beef and Hoxie Feedyard are two out of a small percentage of U.S. feed yards that are approved under the USDA’s program for verifying live animals that are eligible for export to Japan. Nearly 20,000 cattle will be marketed through this program out of the two yards in 2009.
- The United States cow herd was approximately 2.5 million head less in 2009 than it was in 1996. 2008 U.S. beef production, however, is forecast to be 1.5 billion pounds larger than the 1996 level.
- Together, Hoxie Feedyard and Imperial Beef shipped approximately 220,000 head of market-ready cattle in 2009.
- Nebraska cattle-on-feed as of January 1, 2009 was approximately 2,500,000 head. Imperial Beef and Hoxie Feedyard total inventory at capacity is almost 100,000 or 2.1% of the two-state total on feed.
- The United States has raised over 10 billion bushels of corn in only 3-crop years-1994, 2003, and 2004. The USA has raised 9 to 10 billion bushels in only 7-crop years-1992, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001.
- The 7 Nebraska counties near Imperial Beef – Chase (Imperial), Dundy (Benkelman), Hayes (Hayes Center), Hitchcock (Trenton), Keith (Ogallala), Lincoln (North Platte), and Perkins (Grant) grew a total of 135,000,000 bushels of corn in 2008 and even more was projected in 2009.
- Cattle numbers total about 94.5 million head in the United States. The U.S. produce 26.6 billion pounds of beef in 2008 and average consumption 59.9 pounds per person.
- The Ogallala Aquifer near Imperial, NE has a saturated thickness of about 150 feet.
- Retail beef prices during 2008 averaged $3.69/lb. This was the highest amount on record. Prior years averages = 2007 ($4.16) 2006 ($3.97), 2005 ($4.09), 2004 ($4.06), 2003 ($3.75), 2002 ($3.32), 2001 ($3.38), 2000 ($3.06).
- Average annual precipitation (1948-2008) for Imperial, NE is 19.11 inches per year with 61% of that precipitation coming in May, June, July, and August. Other areas of interest precipitation averages = Grand Island, NE (24.92”) and Omaha, NE (30.24”).
- U.S. feeder cattle and calf supplies outside of feedlots are up 4% on January 1, 2005 from a year earlier.
- Nebraska has the top three bef cow countries in the U.S., including the nation's No. 1 cow county - Cherry County, with nearly 166,000 cows. Custer County is No. 2 (100,000) and Holt County is No. 3 (99,000). Also among the top counties in the nation is Lincoln County at No. 12 (69,000).
- Nebraska's cattle-on-feed of 2.5 Million is 2nd in the nation behind Texas' of 2.8 million, but Texas has a population of 20.1 million compared to Nebraska's 1.7 million residents. And Texas is 3.5 times the geographic size of Nebraska. This means Texas depends on other industries and their standard of living isn't nearly as dependent on cattle feeding as Nebraska's.