2013: Slaughter

The number of animals slaughtered in the US comprise only a portion of the total number that die here, as many do not reach the slaughterhouse. Neither do they include animals slaughtered abroad and then shipped to the US, even as they do include those slaughtered here for sale abroad. Nevertheless, they provide a picture of the slaughter industry in this country. The 2013 slaughter included:

24,575,000 ducks
33,354,600 cattle
112,147,900 pigs
239,386,000 turkeys
8,648,756,000 chickens

These add up to 9.1 billion land animals slaughtered for food in the US in 2013. Slaughter totals have not seen the same downward trend as death totals for Americans, as increasing exports have made up for decreases in domestic consumption. 

Calculated by Noam Mohr, May 2014, noammohr@gmail.com