Total Red Meat Production Down From Last Year
Total red meat production for the United States totaled 47.4 billion pounds in 2014, 4 percent lower than the previous year. Red meat includes beef, veal, pork, and lamb and mutton. Red meat production in commercial plants totaled 47.3 billion pounds. On-farm slaughter totaled 93.4 million pounds.
Beef production totaled 24.3 billion pounds, down 6 percent from the previous year. Veal production totaled 100 million pounds, down 15 percent from last year. Pork production, at 22.9 billion pounds, was down 1 percent from the previous year. Lamb and mutton production totaled 161 million pounds, down slightly from 2013.
Commercial cattle slaughter during 2014 totaled 30.2 million head, down 7 percent from 2013, with federal inspection comprising 98.4 percent of the total. The average live weight was 1,330 pounds, up 16 pounds from a year ago. Steers comprised 51.8 percent of the total federally inspected cattle slaughter, heifers 28.2 percent, dairy cows 9.5 percent, other cows 8.6 percent, and bulls 1.8 percent.
Commercial calf slaughter totaled 565,800 head, 26 percent lower than a year ago with 98.5 percent under federal inspection. The average live weight was 283 pounds, up 33 pounds from a year earlier.
Commercial hog slaughter totaled 106.9 million head, 5 percent lower than 2013 with 99.3 percent of the hogs slaughtered under federal inspection. The average live weight was up 9 pounds from last year, at 285 pounds. Barrows and gilts comprised 97.1 percent of the total federally inspected hog slaughter.
Commercial sheep and lamb slaughter, at 2.31 million head, was down slightly from the previous year with 91.1 percent by federal inspection. The average live weight was unchanged from 2013 at 135 pounds. Lambs and yearlings comprised 93.5 percent of the total federally inspected sheep slaughter.
There were 881 plants slaughtering under federal inspection on January 1, 2015 compared with 862 last year. Of these, 654 plants slaughtered at least one head of cattle during 2014 with the 13 largest plants slaughtering 56 percent of the total cattle killed. Hogs were slaughtered at 620 plants, with the 12 largest plants accounting for 57 percent of the total. Likewise, 5 of the 200 plants that slaughtered calves accounted for 63 percent of the total and 3 of the 521 plants that slaughtered sheep or lambs in 2014 comprised 56 percent of the total head.
Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Texas accounted for 49 percent of the United States commercial red meat production in 2014, unchanged from 2013.
Source: USDA