How many animals are killed a year for food?
Commercial cattle slaughter during 1999 totaled 36.1 million head, up 2 percent from 1998. Dairy cows accounted for 7.3 percent of the total, and calves slaughtered totaled 1.28 million head, down 12 percent from a year ago. Commercial hog slaughter totaled 101.5 million head, up 1 percent from 1998. Commercial sheep and lamb slaughter totaled 3.70 million head, and was down 3 percent from 1998. Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Texas accounted for over 50 percent of the United States commercial red meat production in 1999. (USDA Livestock Slaughter Report, March 2000) In 1999, the total number of chickens slaughtered numbered approximately 8.3 billion. Of that number 8.1 billion were broilers and 175 million were hens. 23 million ducks were slaughtered and 265 million turkeys. (USDA Poultry Slaughter Report, April 2000) The worldwide number of animals killed for food in 1998 was 43.2 billion. These figures do not include some small countries and “non-slaughter” deaths.
