News

December poultry production down slightly on year

U.S. poultry production declined slightly in December 2016. December’s total was 3.840 billion pounds, compared to 3.853 billion a year ago.

The USDA says the chicken slaughter pace and preliminary live weights were down on the year, cancelling out slightly heavier average weights for chicken and an across the board increase for turkey numbers.

The chicken slaughter for all types during December was 718.529 million head, down 2%, while the turkey kill was 18.894 million head, up 2%. The preliminary live weight for all poultry was 5.069 billion pounds, compared to 5.089 billion a year ago, with chicken down 1% and turkey up 4%. All chickens averaged 6.20 pounds per bird, up 1%, and turkeys averaged 31.64 pounds, 2% heavier.

Ante-mortem condemnations were 12.967 million pounds, or 0.26% of the live weight, and post-mortem condemnations were 37.757 million pounds, or 0.97% of monthly production.

The unofficial U.S. poultry production total for 2016 was 47.351 billion pounds, up 2% from 2015.