According to the USDA's latest Livestock, Dairy & Poultry Outlook report, total broiler meat production in April was 3.18 bln pounds, up 10.2% over 2007.
Processors supposedly slaughtered 769 mln broilers during the month of April 2008, which is an increase of 7.8% over the same month in 2007. This increase could be attributed to an extra slaughter day in April 2008. Moreover, average live weight of broilers at slaughter was 5.59 pounds, which is an increase of 1.5%.
In the second quarter of 2008, the USDA's anticipates that the total number of broilers slaughtered will be slightly higher than the same quarter in 2007, due to a smaller number of chicks placed for growout over recent weeks. Total broiler production for this period is estimated at 9.3 bln pounds, up 3.2% over the previous year.
As regards turkeys, in April, 22.3 mln birds were slaughtered (up 8.9% over April 2007), and turkey meat production totalled 520 mln pounds (up 12.4% from the same period in 2007). For the second quarter of 2008, production in this sector is projected to reach 1.55 bln pounds, which is up 4.6% from the second quarter in 2007.
