The United States is the world's largest poultry producer
and the second-largest egg producer and exporter of poultry
meat. U.S. poultry meat production totals over 40 billion
pounds annually; over four-fifths is broiler meat, most
of the remainder is turkey meat, and a small fraction
is other chicken meat. The total farm value of U.S. poultry
production exceeds $20 billion. Broiler production accounts
for the majority of this value, followed by eggs, turkey,
and other chicken.
Broiler production is concentrated in a group of States
stretching from Delaware, south along the Atlantic coast
to Georgia, then westward through Alabama, Mississippi,
and Arkansas. The top broiler-producing State is Georgia,
followed by Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and North
Carolina.
Most U.S. broiler production is under contract with a
broiler processor. The grower normally supplies the growout
house with all the necessary heating, cooling, feeding,
and watering systems. The grower also supplies the labor
needed in growing the birds. The broiler processor supplies
the chicks, feed, and veterinary medicines. The processor
schedules transportation of the birds from the farm to
the processing plant. In many cases, the processor also
supplies the crews who place broilers into cages for transportation
to the slaughter plant.
The U.S. turkey industry produces over one-quarter of
a billion birds annually, with the live weight of each
bird averaging over 25 pounds. Production of turkeys is
somewhat more scattered geographically than broiler production.
The top five turkey-producing States are Minnesota, North
Carolina, Missouri, Arkansas, and Virginia.
The United States is by far the world's largest turkey
producer, followed by the European Union. Even though
exports are a major component of U.S. turkey use, the
United States consumes more turkey per capita than any
other country.
U.S. egg operations produce over 90 billion eggs
annually. Over three-fourth of egg production is for human
consumption (the table-egg market). The remainder of production
is for the hatching market. These eggs are hatched to
provide replacement birds for the egg-laying flocks and
to produce broiler chicks for growout operations. The
top five egg-producing States are Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Indiana, and Texas.
The large majority of the U.S. table-egg production is
consumed domestically. U.S. egg and egg product exports
are a relatively minor proportion of domestic production.
U.S. per capita consumption of eggs and egg products is
around 250 eggs per person.
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