August Meat Up 4%,
Pork A New Record

WASHINGTON —(USDA)— Commercial red meat production for the United States totaled 3.77 billion pounds in August, up four percent from the 3.62 billion pounds produced in August 1997.

August 1997 and August 1998 both contained 21 weekdays and five Saturdays.

Beef production, at 2.23 billion pounds, was slightly above the previous year. Cattle slaughter totaled 3.04 million head, down two percent from 1997. The average liveweight was up 22 pounds from the previous year, at 1209 pounds.

Veal production totaled 20 million pounds, 21 percent below August a year ago and nine percent below the previous record low for August set in 1991. Calf slaughter totaled 125,000 head, down slightly from August 1997. The average liveweight was 266 pounds.

Pork production totaled 1.5 billion pounds, up 11 percent from the previous year and just above the previous record high for August set in 1995. Hog kill totaled 8.17 million head, 11 percent above 1997. The average liveweight was one pound above the previous year, at 252 pounds.

Lamb and mutton production, at 17 million pounds, was down 11 percent from the previous record low for August set in 1997. Sheep slaughter totaled 275,000 head, nine percent below last year. The average liveweight was 123 pounds, down four pounds from August a year ago.

The 1998 January through August red meat production was 29.6 billion pounds, four percent above the comparable figure a year earlier. Accumulated beef production was up one percent from last year at 17.1 billion pounds, veal was down 23 percent at 167 million pounds, pork was up 11 percent at 12.15 billion pounds, and lamb and mutton was down three percent at 167 million pounds.

Commercial cattle slaughter for the first eight months of the year was down three percent at 23,755,200 head, calf slaughter was down seven percent at 944,200 head, hog slaughter was up 10 percent at 64,844,200 head, and sheep and lamb slaughter was down three percent at 2,519,000 head.