Charleston, West Virginia – Commercial red meat production during April 2024 totaled 900,000
pounds. This was down 1 percent from April 2023. Commercial red meat production is the carcass weight after slaughter including beef, veal, pork, lamb and mutton. Individual commodity production is total live weight of commercial slaughter.
Commercial cattle slaughter totaled 1,287,000 pounds live weight, down 3 percent from April 2023. Cattle slaughter totaled 1,100 head, down 100 head from the previous year. The average live weight was up 71 pounds from the previous year, at 1,196 pounds.
Commercial calf slaughter was not published because data were less than level of precision shown or not applicable.
Commercial hog slaughter totaled 186,000 pounds live weight, up 2 percent from last year. Hog
slaughter totaled 600 head, unchanged from the previous year. The average live weight was up 24 pounds from the previous year, at 306 pounds.
Commercial sheep and lamb slaughter was not published to avoid disclosing data for individual
operations.
United States – Commercial red meat production for the United States totaled 4.64 billion pounds
in April, up 10 percent from the 4.20 billion pounds produced in April 2023.
Beef production, at 2.30 billion pounds, was 11 percent above the previous year. Cattle slaughter
totaled 2.73 million head, up 7 percent from April 2023. The average live weight was up 41 pounds from the previous year, at 1,395 pounds.
Veal production totaled 3.5 million pounds, 2 percent below April a year ago. Calf slaughter totaled 17,500 head, down 20 percent from April 2023. The average live weight was up 59 pounds from last year, at 338 pounds.
Pork production totaled 2.32 billion pounds, up 9 percent from the previous year. Hog slaughter
totaled 10.7 million head, up 10 percent from April 2023. The average live weight was down 1 pound from the previous year, at 290 pounds.
Lamb and mutton production, at 11.4 million pounds, was up 4 percent from April 2023. Sheep
slaughter totaled 188,800 head, 2 percent above last year. The average live weight was 119 pounds, up 2 pounds from April a year ago.
January to April 2024 commercial red meat production was 18.3 billion pounds, up 1 percent from 2023. Accumulated beef production was down slightly from last year, veal was down 9 percent, pork was up 2 percent from last year, and lamb and mutton production was up 2 percent.
April 2023 contained 20 weekdays (including 0 holidays) and 5 Saturdays.
April 2024 contained 22 weekdays (including 0 holidays) and 4 Saturdays.