Commercial red meat production for the United States totaled 3.82 billion pounds in June, down 1 percent from the 3.85 billion pounds produced in June 2013, according to USDA’s latest Livestock Slaughter report issued Thursday.
Beef production, at 2.07 billion pounds, was 4 percent below the previous year. Cattle slaughter totaled 2.61 million head, down 5 percent from June 2013. The average live weight was up 7 pounds from the previous year, at 1,307 pounds.
Veal production totaled 7.6 million pounds, 10 percent below June a year ago. Calf slaughter totaled 45,300 head, down 21 percent from June 2013. The average live weight was up 35 pounds from last year, at 285 pounds.
An estimated 199,000 dairy cows were slaughtered under Federal inspection in June, down 11,000 head from May and 21,000 head below June 2013.
Looking at the first six months of 2014, USDA estimates that 1.391 million head were “retired” from the dairy business, 176,000 less than the same period a year ago.
Source: DairyBusiness Update
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