Texas commercial red meat production for April was recorded at 362.2 million pounds, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report. This total was up more than 20 million pounds compared to production rates for this same period last year.
April was up 5.1 million pounds over March numbers.
Texas cattle ranchers harvested 450,200 head of cattle in April, which was significantly larger than last year’s total of 429,100 head. The report shows an increase in harvested cattle average live weights by more than 13 pounds compared to the previous year.
Farmers harvested 22,500 hogs in April, down from the 23,900 hogs last April. The hogs’ sum weight in April totaled 5,701,000 pounds, which was down slightly from last year’s total of 5,841,000 pounds.
Texas harvested 9,700 sheep in April, nearly a 1,000-head increase from last year’s 8,800 total. Total lamb weight harvested in Texas was 1,074,000 pounds, which surpassed last year’s total by 366,000 pounds.