How to Read the USDA Meat Animals Production, Disposition, and Income Summary — Production vs Marketings, Cash Receipts and Balance Sheets

As of 5 November 2026, 00:51 KST (retrieved by this page at that time); most recently published report: the Meat Animals Production, Disposition, and Income 2025 Summary from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), dated April 2026 and listed on the NASS 2026 release-date list for April 30, 2026. NASS lists the report as annual; the cited pages give no date for the next one. Primary source: https://esmis.nal.usda.gov/sites/default/release-files/795883/meatan26.txt^[1][2][3]

Comparison basis: the U.S. summary table gives pounds and dollars in millions, and the species tables in thousands, as published; the report's text rounds them (for example, $165 billion for 164,568 million dollars). Calculated percentage changes are this page's, rounded half up to one decimal. Production and marketings are live weight; head counts are in thousands of animals. The report covers cattle and calves and hogs and pigs only.^[1]

In three lines

1. This annual NASS report balances, for cattle and for hogs, the animals on hand, born, shipped in, marketed, slaughtered on farms and lost, and puts dollar values on what was produced and sold.
2. In 2025 cash receipts from marketings of cattle and hogs were $165 billion, up 18 percent, with cattle and calves 81 percent of the total.
3. Production in pounds rose 1 percent, to 87.6 billion pounds live weight.^[1]

Where the numbers come from. "This full-text report provides the annual balance sheet and income estimates for cattle and hogs." The report builds on inventory, birth and price estimates already published in the NASS cattle, hog and agricultural prices reports, plus outside information on inshipments and marketings, and its dollar values are based on data from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. "This report provides a balance sheet for each species." "The sum of inventory on hand at the beginning of the year plus births and inshipments equals the sum of marketings, farm slaughter, deaths, and inventory on hand at the end of the year."^[1][2]

Precision. The inventory reports underneath are probability surveys of producers. "Large operations were sampled more heavily than small operations." "At the National level, this variability, as measured by the relative standard error, is about 1 percent for cattle and 1 percent for hogs." That relative standard error (RSE) describes the sampling variability of the national inventory survey estimates; it is not a test of whether a change between years is significant. On non-sampling errors: "The effects of these errors cannot be measured directly, but they are minimized through rigid quality controls in the data collection process and a careful review of all reported data for consistency and reasonableness."^[1]

Revisions. "For both species, previous year estimates of inshipments, marketings, farm slaughter, and deaths are subject to revision when the current year estimates are made." Estimates are also reviewed after the five-year Census of Agriculture, and the report says no revisions are made after that. This page uses the 2024 values as printed in the April 2026 report.^[1]

Definitions that change the numbers. Production is the total live weight of animals marketed, slaughtered on farms and custom-slaughtered for the farm, minus the live weight of inshipments, adjusted for the change in live weight of inventory. Marketings include animals for slaughter and younger animals shipped to other States for feeding and breeding, and exclude sales between farms within a State. Cash receipts are receipts from marketings and any sale of farm-slaughtered meat: "For hogs and pigs, includes an allowance for feeder pig outshipments." Gross income is cash receipts plus the value of home consumption.^[1]

Production vs marketings. U.S. marketings were 103,582 million pounds in 2025 against production of 87,568 million, a gap of 16,014 million pounds (this page's calculation). By the report's definitions, marketings include animals shipped to other States for feeding and breeding, while production subtracts the live weight of inshipments; in this page's reading, that is why the two measures are not expected to match, and the report does not split the gap by cause.^[1]

Value of production vs cash receipts. Value of production was 130,182 million dollars and cash receipts 164,568 million in 2025. They value different quantities: production in pounds is net of inshipments, while cash receipts follow marketings. Gross income, 165,528 million, equals cash receipts plus home consumption of 960 million (this page's sum matches the published total).^[1]

Dollars vs pounds. Cattle and calf cash receipts rose 19.0% while cattle and calf marketings fell 0.4% in pounds (this page's calculations). The implied value per unit (cash receipts ÷ pounds marketed) is $2.24 per pound in 2025 against $1.88 in 2024, in this page's calculation; it need not equal any published price, because cash receipts also include sales of farm-slaughtered meat. The report points readers to Agricultural Prices for prices received.^[1]

Cattle vs hogs. Cattle and calves made up 133,674,891 thousand dollars of the 2025 cash receipts and hogs and pigs 30,893,004 thousand, 81.2% and 18.8% of the U.S. total in this page's calculation (the report's text: 81 and 19 percent). Hog production rose 1.9% in pounds, while cattle production rose by about 0.02%, which the report calls slight.^[1]

Balance sheet in vs out. For cattle and calves in 2025, the January 1, 2025 inventory (86,472.2 thousand head), calf crop (32,895.6) and inshipments (21,730.0) add to 141,097.8 thousand head; marketings of cattle (43,946.3) and calves (7,233.0), farm slaughter (115.3), deaths (1,686.2 and 1,961.7) and the January 1, 2026 inventory (86,155.3) add to the same 141,097.8. For hogs the two sides each add to 280,209.4 thousand head (this page's sums).^[1]