Charleston, West Virginia – Commercial red meat production during April 2023 totaled 900,000 pounds. This was up 25 percent from April 2022. Commercial red meat production is the carcass weight after slaughter including beef, veal, pork, lamb and mutton. Individual commodity production is the total live weight of commercial slaughter.
Commercial cattle slaughter totaled 1,330,000 pounds live weight, up 32 percent from April 2022.
Cattle slaughter totaled 1,200 head, up 200 head from the previous year. The average live weight was up 69 pounds from the previous year, at 1,125 pounds.
Commercial calf slaughter was not published because data were less than level of precision shown or not applicable.
Commercial hog slaughter totaled 182,000 pounds live weight, up 27 percent from last year. Hog slaughter totaled 600 head, up 100 head from the previous year. The average live weight was down 3 pounds from the previous year, at 282 pounds.
Commercial sheep and lamb slaughter was not published to avoid disclosing individual operations.
United States – Commercial red meat production for the United States totaled 4.20 billion pounds in April, down 8 percent from the 4.54 billion pounds produced in April 2022.
Beef production, at 2.07 billion pounds, was 11 percent below the previous year. Cattle slaughter totaled 2.54 million head, down 10 percent from April 2022. The average live weight was down 19 pounds from the previous year, at 1,354 pounds.
Veal production totaled 3.6 million pounds, 21 percent below April a year ago. Calf slaughter totaled 21,900 head, down 22 percent from April 2022. The average live weight was up 3 pounds from last year, at 280 pounds.
Pork production totaled 2.12 billion pounds, down 4 percent from the previous year. Hog slaughter totaled 9.77 million head, down 3 percent from April 2022. The average live weight was down 2 pounds from the previous year, at 291 pounds.
Lamb and mutton production, at 11.0 million pounds, was down 11 percent from April 2022. Sheep slaughter totaled 185,900 head, 6 percent below last year. The average live weight was 117 pounds, down 6 pounds from April a year ago. January to April 2023 commercial red meat production was 18.1 billion pounds, down 2 percent from 2022.
Accumulated beef production was down 5 percent from last year, veal was down 13 percent, pork was up 1 percent from last year, and lamb and mutton production was up slightly.