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)).
Environmental Impacts Drive Regulation
Livestock production introduces a number of risks to the environment that, if not properly managed, can impact human health.
Diets & Red Meat Consumption
Red meat’s portion of the American diet has fluctuated over time.
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
Jun 23, 2024 - Livestock Workers’ Wages Rising
- Average wages for livestock workers rose 4.1% in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to Q4 2022, according to the latest farm labor report from the USDA. Meanwhile, the number of hired workers on farms and ranches fell 1.1% over the same period and dipped 0.6% versus Q3 2023. Rising consumer expenditures for food – up 0.9% in March from the prior month per the Bureau of Economic Analysis – and higher prices for livestock are helping to mitigate the steep upward trend in wages for livestock workers. The prices received by farmers index for livestock products rose 4.7% in March year over year and 2.3% versus February, according to the USDA, outpacing the rise in prices farmers paid for livestock, which was essentially flat in March both year over year and compared with February.
- 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.
- Poultry producers are using lasers, drones, and other unconventional tactics to ward off wild birds that may be carrying the avian flu virus, The New York Times reports. As migratory birds head north for the spring, poultry farmers across the US are bracing for yet another outbreak of avian flu. As of April 17, nearly 8.7 million birds across a dozen commercial and backyard flocks had been tested and confirmed to have HPAI, per the USDA. That’s a tiny fraction of the nearly 10 billion chickens, turkeys, ducks, and other birds sold across the country each year. The hardest hit appears to be large-scale industrial farms and those raising egg-producing chickens, according to NYT. According to the USDA, bird flu has also been detected in 32 dairy cow herds in eight states. It’s the first time HPAI has been identified in cows.
- Legislators in Florida have approved a wide-ranging bill that would ban the sale of lab-grown (aka cultivated meat). The bill, which awaits the governor's consideration, would make selling or manufacturing lab-grown meat a second-degree misdemeanor. It’s one of a half-dozen similar measures introduced in Arizona, Tennessee, West Virginia, and elsewhere so far this year. Lab-grown meat is grown from cells taken from an animal and does not require slaughtering. While the USDA approved cultivated meat production for the first time in the US in 2023, it’s expected to be many years before it appears on dinner tables. While beef and poultry associations oppose lab-grown meat because of its potential to eat into sales, some meat companies have partnered with cultivated-meat startups to help meet global demand for protein, The New York Times reports.
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