New U.S. animal feed consumption data released by IFEEDER

Feed fed to U.S. hogs in 2023 equaled approximately 60.9 million tons, mainly from corn-related ingredients.

A new report from the Institute for Feed Education and Research (IFEEDER) quantifies the amount of feed consumed by the United State's major livestock, poultry, and aquaculture species. In 2023, U.S. livestock, poultry, and farmed aquaculture consumed approximately 283.6 million tons of feed.

Excluding harvested forages and roughages, the study found that in 2023 beef cattle consumed the most feed at 76.7 million tons, followed by broilers at 61.5 million tons, hogs at 60.9 million tons, dairy cattle at 48.7 million tons, egg-laying hens at 17.7 million tons, turkeys at 10.9 million tons, horses at 5.3 million tons, sheep and goats at 1.2 million tons, and aquaculture at 615,800 tons.

U.S. livestock, poultry, and farmed aquaculture feed consumption by species in 2023. Source: IFEEDER.

The report primarily examined over 70 unique feed ingredients used among the studied species, finding that by weight, corn tops the list at 159.4 million tons, followed by soybean meal at 35.4 million tons, corn distillers’ dried grains at 32.6 million tons, wheat middlings at 5.6 million tons, and canola meal at 5.2 million tons.

The report also found that 37% of total feed consumption (excluding harvested forages and roughages) came from “circular” ingredients, meaning coproducts or byproducts from the human food industry or other industrial processes that might otherwise go to landfill. For hogs, 28% of feed consumption came from circular ingredients.

The total amount of feed fed to U.S. hogs in 2023 equaled approximately 60.9 million tons. More than 77.8% of this amount came from corn-related ingredients. Other commodity groups include 10.8% of soy-related ingredients, 5.2% of processed plant co-products, 2.8% of small grains, and 1.8% of vitamins and minerals.