United States Commercial Slaughter
Commercial red meat production for the United States totaled 4.43 billion pounds in October 2016, up 3 percent from the 4.31 billion pounds produced in October 2015.
Beef production, at 2.21 billion pounds, was 4 percent above the previous year. Cattle slaughter totaled 2.64 million head, up 5 percent from October 2015.
Veal production totaled 6.60 million pounds, 8 percent below October a year ago. Calf slaughter totaled 48,300 head, up 20 percent from October 2015.
Pork production totaled 2.20 billion pounds, up 1 percent from the previous year. Hog slaughter totaled 10.4 million head, up 2 percent from October 2015.
Lamb and mutton production, at 11.7 million pounds, was down 2 percent from October 2015. Sheep slaughter totaled 181,600 head, 2 percent below last year.
Pacific Region Commercial Slaughter
California’s production of red meat during October 2016 totaled 119 million pounds (dressed weight), 2 percent above than October 2015. This figure includes slaughter in Federally-inspected and state-inspected plants, but excludes farm slaughter. In October 2016, the average live weight of cattle slaughtered in California was 1,368 pounds, calves averaged 92 pounds, sheep and lambs averaged 135 pounds, and hogs averaged 253 pounds. In Hawaii, 600,000 pounds of red meat were produced in October 2016, and 100,000 pounds of red meat were produced in Nevada.