Livestock Slaughter Levels Gradually Improving, Chicken Remains Steady

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – Fortunately, it appears the worst of the COVID-related disruptions to meat and livestock markets may be over. That’s according to Dr. Jayson Lusk, Head of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University who writes that the worst of the disruptions occurred in late April and early May. At that time, Lusk explains, livestock and chicken slaughter were running about 40 percent below last year. Since then, however, significant improvements have been made since then. For beef and pork, the packing plants are back online, for the most part, but are running at reduced capacity. Beef and pork are currently running at levels of 85 percent to 90 percent of 2019 production. Chicken processing is the anomaly as production levels have been within 10 percent of last year’s levels.