Animal Production
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 935,700 animal production operations in the US include farms that raise livestock (such as beef cattle, poultry, sheep, and hogs); farms that employ animals to produce products (such as dairies, egg farms, and apiaries); and animal specialty farms (such as aquaculture (fish farms)).
Declining Red Meat and Poultry Consumption
Red meat’s share of the American diet has fluctuated over time.
Environmental Impacts Drive Regulation
Livestock production introduces environmental risks that, if not properly managed, can impact human health.
Industry size & Structure
The 935,700 livestock operations in the US include 545,800 cattle operations, 21,800 hog and pig farms, 75,600 poultry and egg farms, 79,400 sheep and goat farms, and 23,100 dairy farms.
- Livestock farms produce about $262 billion in average annual value on 393 million acres. The average livestock operation generates about $280,000 in annual revenue.
- The US Census Bureau defines a farm as an operation that produces or should have reasonably produced over $1,000 in revenue during a given year, including government payments.
- About 90% of livestock farms are owned by farm families in which the family owns and/or operates the farm and has done so for generations.
- More than 268,700 people are hired employees in the livestock industry, but 77% of total livestock labor is family members.
- Farm operations that generate more than $1 million in revenue account for 79% of livestock production value.
Industry Forecast
Animal Production Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Dec 23, 2024 - Soaring Egg Prices
- Prices for farm-level eggs rose by 54.6% in November 2024, after falling 20.6% in October 2024, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service Food Price Outlook. Farm-level egg prices are experiencing large monthly swings as the ongoing HPAI (bird flu) outbreak continues to affect poultry farmers’ egg-layer flocks. In November, prices for farm-level eggs were 94.4% percent higher compared to a year ago, when prices had fallen during a lull in the outbreak. Farm-level egg prices are predicted to increase 40.8% in 2024, with a prediction interval of 34.7-50.6%, according to the ERS report. At the retail level, egg prices rose 7.8% in November and, like farm-level prices, are also experiencing volatile month-to-month changes, reports the USDA. Indeed, egg prices are the most volatile category tracked by the department.
- With US cattle inventory at the lowest level in more than 70 years, farmers and ranchers are facing uncertainty about the future, Farm Bureau reports. The cattle shortage has fueled grocery store price hikes, wiped out billions in meat processor profits, and is driving mass layoffs at processors. Moreover, the possibility of new tariffs and immigration reform proposed by President-elect Donald Trump risks constraining supplies further still. High interest rates, farmer debt, bad weather and a shifting consumer preference toward cheaper chicken, has caused ranchers to cull heifers at too rapid a pace to rebuild the number of calves necessary to expand their herds. The USDA doesn’t expect a meaningful recovery to begin until 2027, as high borrowing costs and poor pastureland make it too risky to take on new cows — given the investment takes a few years to come to fruition, according to the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
- Pushback from states and the dairy cattle industry against more stringent testing requirements to prevent the spread of bird flu among cows led the USDA to take a more lenient approach, Reuters reported in October. Initially, the department considered requiring milk-producing dairy cattle to test negative for bird flu three days before crossing state lines. However, the emergency order released in April requires a negative bird flu test no more than seven days prior to travel and allows non-producing cattle headed to slaughter to cross state lines without being tested. Reuters was told by two veterinarians that relaxing the order may have enabled more spread of the virus. When the USDA issued the April 24 order, 33 herds had tested positive. The outbreak has since spread to more than 330 herds across 14 states and human cases in 17 dairy workers, Reuters reports.
- Consumers in five European countries prioritize animal welfare above environmental sustainability when buying meat and dairy products, according to a recent article in Dairy Reporter (DR). More than 3,000 consumers in the UK, Czechia, Sweden, Spain, and Switzerland were asked to rank 18 product attributes in order of importance as drivers of meat and dairy purchases. The top product attributes for meat were freshness, quality/taste, and animal welfare, with sustainability-related claims such as organic, carbon footprint, and food miles ranking lower on consumers’ lists. Organic ranked last on shoppers’ lists for both meat and dairy products. However, in the US, market research by NielsenIQ and McKinsey of five years of US consumer spending data found consumers shifting spending toward products with sustainable claims in two-thirds of food categories, according to DR.
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