U.S. population 2000 - 281,421,906 (Source: Census)

U.S. livestock population: 7.5 billion chickens, 292 million turkeys, 190 million cattle and 92 million hogs. (Source: New York Times, 1/8/2001)

On an average day in the U.S., 130,000 cattle, 7,000 calves, 360,000 hogs and 24 million chickens are slaughtered. (Source: New York Times News Service article, 5/5/1996)

Assuming the livestock population numbers are accurate, for every person in the U.S., there would be 26.7 chickens, 1.04 turkeys, 0.676 cattle and 0.33 hog.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 09, 2001

Answers

Did they give the export figures??? or import?

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), January 09, 2001.

Diane:

Didn't differentiate. I know the U.S. imports live cattle from Mexico and Canada. Most of what comes in from South America and Australia is processed meat, such as hamburger patties. I doubt many live chickens, turkeys or hogs are imported, compared to U.S. production. I also doubt exports are a significant portion of total production. Perhaps someone has access to these numbers.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 09, 2001.

Ken, Did they give the number of sheep?

-- (trigger@mcn.net), January 09, 2001.

:( Nobody loves us!

-- sheepish (WA) (rborgo@gte.net), January 09, 2001.

That per day slaughter figure threw me off.I thought we were eating 26 chickens,a turkey, half a beef and a third of a hog every day.Whoa.Even a bit much for your average confirmed meat eater!I started to email you about those figures.

But then I reread it,and realized that was per year.Whew,I was feeling pretty stuffed.

How much total acreage is required ,per year ,to produce this ammount of meat,is my next question?

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), January 09, 2001.

Oh,sheepish,I forgot- we REALLY love lamb,roasted on the stick.Yum yum.Ain't nothin better. So,we love you,anyway.

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), January 09, 2001.

Sharon:

There is no answer to your question, since it is largely comparing apples (pasture raised) versus oranges (confinement raised). While the number of chickens slaughtered per day may seem high, remember they go into a variety of different products, from chicken soup and potpies to roasters.

The high population numbers also somewhat reflect the time it takes to come to market size. A couple of months for chickens, longer for turkeys and far longer for cattle. With turkeys, seasonal production also comes into play.

About the only good comparison would be the number of pounds of feed required, and here a concept called 'animal units' come into play. For example, the feed required for a 1,000 pound cow could feed 1.3 horses, five mature ewes, .4 hogs, 75 layers or breeders or 35 turkey breeders, as rules of thumb.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 09, 2001.

I would have initially thought the chicken number even higher,but I had to remind myself that most people don't eat like I do.

The cropland devoted to feed grains + hayland + pastureland? No figures on the breakdown,then? No,I guess that might be pretty variable.

How about the totals for all crop and pasture land in the US? That would be an interesting figure as well.An indication of arable land.

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), January 09, 2001.

Keep in mind, too, that a lot of the meat, or by-products, goes into pet foods.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), January 12, 2001.