News

Record August red meat, beef production

Commercial red meat production during August 2022 set a high-water mark for the month.

The USDA says the total of 4.826 billion pounds was 8% above August 2021, but the year-to-date pace of 36.786 billion pounds is still slightly behind last year’s pace.

Beef was a monthly record 2.506 billion pounds, up 6% on the year, with a 7% rise in slaughter to 3.076 million head canceling out a 6 pound loss in the average live weight at 1,348 pounds.

The dairy cow slaughter for August was 266,100 head, up 36,000 from July and 4,700 from August 2021. So far this year, the dairy cow slaughter is 2,016,800 head, 55,700 slower than a year ago.

Pork production was 2.303 billion pounds, with the slaughter 3% higher at 10.987 million head and a 2 pound gain for the average live weight to 282 pounds.

The USDA’s next set of red meat production projections for 2022 is out October 12^th.