Young meat chickens slaughtered under federal inspection (FI) last year totaled 9,210,889,000 head weighing 59,486,734,000 pounds, liveweight, a decrease of 0.2 percent from the 9,229,801,000 head in 2020 but an increase of 0.6 percent from the 59,155,652,000 pounds in 2020, according to the annual Poultry Slaughter 2021 Summary report issued last week by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).
Average liveweight last year was 6.46 pounds, 0.8 percent heavier than the 6.41 pounds in 2020. Ante-mortem condemnations for broilers in 2021 were 0.2 percent of liveweight, unchanged from the percentage in 2020. Post-mortem condemnations for 2021 were 0.49 percent of pounds certified as wholesome plus post-mortem condemnations. This percentage was a 0.7 percent point decrease from the 0.56 percent in 2020. The major post-mortem cause in both 2020 and 2021 was “unknown” which was noted as “no cause given by federal inspectors or establishment sorters.” For 2021, the dressing percentage or yield as calculated by comparing certified wholesome weight with liveweight was 75.5 percent versus 75.4 percent in 2020.
The top seven states accounted for over 68 percent of U.S. broiler production in 2021. These states are with the percent change in production/percent of total U.S. production:
| State | 2020 | 2021 | Change from | Share of total U.S. |
| -slaughter, billion liveweight lbs.- | 2020 to 2021 (%) | slaughter (%) | ||
| North Carolina | 7.483 | 7.614 | 1.8 | 12.8 |
| Georgia | 7.787 | 7.539 | -3.2 | 12.7 |
| Arkansas | 6.976 | 6.978 | 0 | 11.7 |
| Alabama | 6.444 | 6.532 | 1.4 | 11.0 |
| Texas | 4.657 | 4.751 | 2.0 | 8.0 |
| Mississippi | 4.455 | 4.357 | -2.2 | 7.3 |
| Delaware | 2.700 | 2.694 | -0.2 | 4.5 |
States with the largest year-over-year increases were New Jersey, 35.2 percent; New York, 4.8 percent; Tennessee, 10.9 percent; Pennsylvania, 6.3 percent; and Indiana, 5.4 percent.
Over 99 percent of the U.S. slaughter for any poultry species is conducted under federal inspection. Approximately 349 plants slaughtered poultry under FI in 2021. Young meat chickens were slaughtered under FI in 38 states, NASS reported.
The full report can be viewed here.
