A typical broiler chicken slaughterhouse slaughters ~225,000 chickens per day. That’s ~1.1 million chickens per week and ~59 million in a year.[1-3]
Per hour, that typical plant slaughters ~28,000 chickens, or 470 each minute. (This would be on multiple slaughter lines.) A semi-trailer load of 6,000 chickens would be slaughtered every 13 minutes of each working day.[4,5]
A very large plant can slaughter almost twice that – approximately 2 million chickens per week or 100 million in a year.[6]
Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (2022) Annual Report for fiscal year ending 12/25/22 (Form 10-K), p. 20. [36 slaughter plants with capacity of 8.7 million birds per day or 242,000 average birds per day per plant x 88.4% of capacity = 214,000 birds per day]
Sanderson Farms Inc. (2021) Annual Report for fiscal year ending 10/31/21 (Form 10-K), p. 5. [9 of 12 plants have 1.3 million bird capacity per week, or about 260,000 birds per day. At 90% capacity, that is 234,000 birds per day]
WATTPoultry USA (March 2019) Top Broiler Companies 2019 profiles, p. 24. [Reports on new Tyson plant with capacity of 1.25 million birds per week]
USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (2013), Poultry Industry Manual, Foreign Animal Disease Preparedness & Response Plan, p. 35.
Note: Slaughter figures for days, hours, and minutes are based on a 5-day work week and the slaughter line running 8 hours a day. [Tyson Foods Inc. (2022) Annual Report for fiscal year ending 10/1/22 (Form 10-K), p. 19]
Chloe Sorvino (June 9, 2023) Fresh Take: Inside Costco’s Billion-Dollar Bet on $4.99 Rotisserie Chicken, Forbes.com https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2023/06/09/fresh-take-inside-costcos-1-billion-bet-on-499-rotisserie-chicken/?sh=126840b41767
A typical large pig slaughterhouse slaughters ~20,000 pigs each day. That’s ~100,000 pigs per week and more than 5 million per year, per plant.[1-3]
In an hour that typical plant slaughters ~2,500 pigs, or ~42 pigs in a minute. A semi-trailer load of 176 pigs will be slaughtered in a little more than 4 minutes.[4,5]
There are 14 pig slaughterhouses nationwide that are, on average, slaughtering pigs at this rate.[6]
According to Smithfield Foods (owned by Chinese firm WH Group), their Tar Heel plant is the largest hog slaughterhouse in the world.[7] The daily slaughter rate is ~34,500 pigs per day.[8]
USDA NASS Livestock Slaughter 2022 Summary (April 2023), ISSN: 0499-0544 p. 6, 8. [“Hogs were slaughtered at 659 plants, with the 14 largest plants accounting for 59 percent of the total.”] [.59 x 125,400,200 = 73,986,118 / 14 = 5,284,723 hogs per year / 52 = 101,629 per week, 20,326 per day / 8 = 2,540 per hour / 60 = 42 per minute]
Davis, C. G. et al., (2022) U.S. Hog Production: Rising Output and Changing Trends in Productivity Growth, USDA Economic Research Service, Report No. 308, p. 3.
Steve Meyer (2020) Pork Packing: Just What is Capacity? National Hog Farmer, p. 20. https://www.nationalhogfarmer.com/business/pork-packing-just-what-capacity
USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (2011), Swine Industry Manual, Foreign Animal Disease Preparedness & Response Plan, p. 26.
Note: for rationale of using 5.4-day to 5.8-day work week for calculating full capacity, see Meyer (2020) Pork Packing: Just What is Capacity, pp. 21-22. Since plants don’t usually run at full capacity, we use the 5-day work week and assume the slaughter line runs 8 hours a day.
USDA NASS Livestock Slaughter 2022 Summary, p. 6.
Smithfield Foods Inc. (April 5, 2022) Smithfield Foods Promotes Andrea Tucker to Plant Manager of its Tar Heel, NC Facility, PRNewswire https://www.smithfieldfoods.com/press-room/2022-04-05-Smithfield-Foods-Promotes-Andrea-Tucker-to-Plant-Manager-of-its-Tar-Heel%2c-NC-Facility
Pork Packing: Just What is Capacity? National Hog Farmer, p. 20.
A typical large cattle slaughterhouse slaughters ~5,400 cattle per day. That’s ~27,000 per week and ~1.4 million in a year, per plant.[1]
In an hour that typical plant slaughters about 614 cattle, or about 10 cattle per minute. A double decker semi-trailer load of about 40 cattle will be slaughtered in 4 minutes.[2,3]
There are 12 cattle slaughterhouses nationwide that are, on average, slaughtering cattle at this rate.[4]
USDA NASS Livestock Slaughter 2022 Summary (April 2023), ISSN: 0499-0544, p. 6, 8. [“Of these, 776 plants slaughtered at least one head of cattle during 2022 with the 12 largest plants slaughtering 49 percent of the total cattle killed.”] [34,421,900 x .49 = 16,866,731 / 12 = 1,405,561 cattle slaughtered per year or 27,030 per week or 4,915 per day or 614 per hour, 10 per minute]
USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (2011), Beef Feedlot Industry Manual, Foreign Animal Disease Preparedness & Response Plan, Table 7, p. 27.
Note: We use a 5.5-day work week based on Tyson Annual Report Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 1, 2022, p. 19, referencing a 6-day week for beef plants at full capacity. We assume plant operation at about 90% capacity and a slaughter line running 8 hours per day.
USDA NASS Livestock Slaughter 2022 Summary, p. 6.