Animal Production NAICS 112

Dec 23, 2025 - New Drug Protects Against NWS

• The FDA’s conditional approval of Merck’s EXZOLT CATTLE‑CA1 provides cattle producers with a critically needed tool to combat New World Screwworm (NWS), a parasite contributing to historically low US herd levels, CNBC reported in December. With the US-Mexico border closed to live‑animal imports due to the NWS outbreak, ranchers have lost access to more than one million calves annually, tightening supply and raising production costs. The topical treatment offers 21 days of protection and also targets fever ticks, helping producers limit losses and avoid further herd decline. However, the drug’s 98‑day meat withholding period and multi‑year timeline for parasite control mean producers will still face elevated biological and financial risk in the near term. As cattle shortages drive plant closures and volatile beef prices, the treatment provides ranchers with a valuable defensive tool, but not an immediate solution to supply pressures or market instability.
• US production of red meat declined again in 2025, according to the December Livestock Slaughter Report from the USDA’s National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS). Through the end of October, cattle slaughter fell 6.7% to 24.9 million head, marking the third consecutive year of decline, with the reduction in head slaughtered more than twice the magnitude of last year’s decrease. Volume losses in 2025 have been led by steers and heifers, down 4.7% and 7%, respectively. Declines in beef cow and bull slaughter have also been significant, with beef cow slaughter down 18.2% year over year to just below 2 million head, while bulls are down 10%. Record low cattle herd inventories and declining slaughter rates are driving up the price of beef, which is nearly 33% higher than in 2020, according to the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index.

• Turkey production and consumption in the US is declining, data from the USDA’s Turkeys Raised report shows. The report, released on Sept. 26, estimates that 195 million turkeys were raised in 2025, down 3% from 2024, and down 36% from a peak of about 303 million in 1996. This marks the lowest estimate in 40 years when 185 million turkeys were raised in 1985 and will lead to higher prices for consumers. Currently, wholesale turkey prices are about 40% higher than in fall 2024, while retail prices are expected to rise to $1.32 per pound, up 38 cents per pound over last year, according to American Farm Bureau Federation estimates. Meanwhile, the USDA’s latest WASDE report projects 4.49 billion pounds of turkey will be consumed or exported in 2025, down 610 million pounds, or 12%, from 2015.
• Smithfield Foods, the largest US pork supplier, recently rolled out a new genetic line of hogs that grow faster on less feed, The Wall Street Journal reports. Pork production is a low-margin business, with feed accounting for about 60% of the cost of raising a hog. As such, reducing the amount of feed used to raise hogs boosts producers’ profits. To produce hogs that gain weight faster on less feed, Smithfield crossed three different breeds that each have different traits, according to WSJ. The maternal line, responsible for characteristics such as the number of piglets produced in a year, incorporates commercially available genetic traits from outside companies. The father’s side focuses on traits related to growth and meat quality, using a male pig bred by Smithfield. The new “more efficient” hog line took about five years to develop and is beginning to make an impact on Smithfield’s profits, according to its CEO.