News

September poultry production climbs on year

The USDA says the amount of poultry produced during September 2020 was 4.409 billion pounds, a jump of 5% from September 2019. That includes 3.926 billion pounds of chicken, 5% higher, and 473.752 million pounds of turkey, a gain of 3%.

The chicken slaughter was 800.511 million head, an increase of 3%, and the turkey kill was 18.350 million head, up 1%. All chickens averaged 6.51 pounds, compared to 6.38 a year ago, and all turkeys averaged 32.32 pounds, compared to 31.85.

Ante-mortem condemnations were 11.908 million pounds, a drop of 13%, representing 0.2% of the preliminary live weight, while post-mortem condemnations were 28.316 million pounds, down 6%, or 0.64% of monthly production.

For the year to date, production is 38.332 billion pounds, 2% ahead of last year’s pace.