Introduction
Chickens have been a food staple, whether for egg production or for meat production, for thousands of years.
Since the early 1900's poultry production within the United States has grown from a backyard, mom-and-pop operation to large corporations. For a more detailed documentation of the history of poultry production in the United States through 1992 click here
The commercial poultry industry in the United States is primarily comprised of two components: the production of meat from mostly chickens and turkeys and the production of infertile edible eggs. Most production uses contracts between a company that provides birds, feed, and medication along with technical assistance and an independent producer that provides land, building, equipment, utilities, and labor along with day-to-day management.
Meat Production
Production of poultry continues to grow, as chickens and eggs are high sources of protein for the human diet. According to the NASS Poultry-Production and Value report, in 2009 the United States broiler industry had farm cash receipt sales in the amount of $21.8 billion. [Insert question regarding two documents] Not only is the production of broilers growing, but the amount that is exported to other countries is as well. Table 1 below shows the meat production in the United States and the amount of meat exported from broilers from 2006 through 2010.
Table 1. United States broiler meat production and amount exported.
|
Year |
Broiler Meat Production |
Broiler Exports |
Percent of Production Exported |
|
2006 |
35.5 billion pounds |
5.2 billion pounds |
15 percent |
|
2007 |
36.2 billion pounds |
5.9 billion pounds |
16 percent |
|
2008 |
36.9 billion pounds |
7.0 billion pounds |
19 percent |
|
2009 |
35.5. billion pounds |
6.8 billion pounds |
19 percent |
|
2010 |
36.9 billion pounds |
6.8 billion pounds |
18 percent |
|
|
Data are reported in the monthly WASDE report |
Broiler exports divided by broiler production |
|
According to the annual NASS Poultry-Production and Value report, the majority of the states leading in production of broilers can be found in the southern part of the United States. These eight states make up 72% of the total production in the United States (Table 2).
Table 2. State broiler production in 2009
|
State |
Production |
Percentage |
|
Georgia |
1.3 billion |
15 percent |
|
Arkansas |
1.1 billion |
12 percent |
|
Alabama |
1.0 billion |
12 percent |
|
Mississippi |
793 million |
9 percent |
|
North Carolina |
760 million |
9 percent |
|
Texas |
669 million |
8 percent |
|
Kentucky |
307 million |
4 percent |
|
Maryland |
292 million |
3 percent |
|
Totals |
6.2 billion |
72 percent |
*U.S. total—8.6 billion birds
Data are reported annually in NASS Poultry-Production and Value report
Egg Production
The egg industry is made up of egg breeder operations that produce breeding stock for egg production http://www.aeb.org/egg-industry/egg-industry-evolution], egg pullet operations that grow pullets to production age pullets, egg laying operations that care for birds when they reach production age, and egg processing that prepares eggs for marketing. The following video clips explain this process. [Insert Video here - http://www.aeb.org/egg-industry/egg-industry-evolution]
Unlike the broiler production, the United States exports a fewer percentage of its eggs. Like the broiler production, the amount being exported is increasing annually. Table 3 below, gives a summary of the comparison data.
Table 3. Shell Egg Distribution
|
Period |
Cases Produced |
Eggs Exported |
Percent of Eggs Exported |
|
2006 |
214.1 million |
1.4 |
0.6 percent |
|
2007 |
211.1 million |
1.5 |
0.7 percent |
|
2008 |
212.6 million |
1.4 |
0.7 percent |
|
2009 |
215.7 million (est.) |
6.4 (est.) |
3.0 percent |
*Information found on-line at http://www.aeb.org/egg-industry/industry-facts/shell-egg-distribution
The largest producing states of eggs are not necessarily the same states that produce the largest amount of broilers. Table 4 provides information on the top ten states in the United States based on the number of layers.
Table 4. Currently, the top ten egg producing states (ranked by number of layers represented in thousands) are:
|
State |
Number of Layers per thousand |
|
Iowa |
52, 350 |
|
Ohio |
26, 904 |
|
Pennsylvania |
24,392 |
|
Indiana |
22,825 |
|
California |
19,355 |
|
Texas |
13,628 |
|
Michigan |
10, 326 |
|
Minnesota |
9,833 |
|
Nebraska |
9,271 |
|
Florida |
9,232 |
For additional information regarding egg production in the United States, click here
Mathematically, many of the problems inherent to animal systems such as the calculation of purchasing and marketing, housing requirements, conversion of units, average daily gain, topical and injectable medications, USDA grade calculation, feeding schedules, volumes, production cost, stocking rates, breed and gestation can be solved utilizing the four basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Other mathematical concepts that might be used to solve these types of problems include the understanding of percentages and finding the area of two-dimensional regions.
