News

September poultry production down 7% on year

USDA reports September poultry production was 3.433 billion pounds, down 12% on the month and 7% on the year.

The preliminary live weight of all poultry was 4.548 billion pounds, 8% less than last year, with chickens also down 8%, turkeys 5% lower, and ducks dropping 12%.

All chickens averaged 5.88 pounds per bird, turkeys averaged 29.33 pounds, and ducks averaged 6.77 pounds.

The chicken kill of 675.202 million head declined 8% from a year ago with turkey down 5% at 19.317 million head, and duck 12% lower at 1.791 million.

Ante-mortem condemnations were 9.311 million pounds or .02% of the total live weight, while post-mortem condemnations of 29.455 million pounds were 0.85% of total production.

For the year to date, U.S. poultry production is 32.757 billion pounds, down 1% from the January to September 2011 total.