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October poultry production down 2% on year

The USDA reports October poultry production was 4.050 billion pounds, down 2% on the year.

That’s because of a 2% decline in the average live weight, to 5.345 billion pounds. The chicken slaughter was 4% lower at 754.780 million head and the turkey kill was down 5% to 22.153 million head.

Ante-mortem condemnations were 12.458 million pounds, 0.23% of the preliminary live weight, and post-mortem condemnations were 40.980 million pounds, roughly 1% of total production.

For the year to date, U.S. poultry production is 38.825 billion pounds, 3% ahead of last year’s pace.