WASHINGTON —The US Dept. of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released its monthly livestock slaughter report for May and reported a record high for the month.

Total commercial red meat production for the US was 4.57 billion lbs. in May which is up 1 percent from 4.5 billion lbs. in May 2018.

NASS also published the red meat production numbers for the first five months of 2019. From January to May, 22.4 billion lbs. of red meat were produced, which is up 2 percent from the same time frame in 2018. 

In the beef production category, the agency reported 2.33 billion lbs. for May, which is 1 percent above the previous year. Cattle slaughter included 2.94 million head, which is up 1 percent from May 2018.

Veal production totaled 6.3 million lbs., 1 percent below May a year ago. However, calf slaughter totaled 46,200 head which was down 1 percent from 2018.

Pork production for the month was 2.22 billion lbs. a 2 percent increase. Hog slaughter totaled 10.4 million head up 1 percent from the previous year.