As of March 1, there were 74.3 million hogs and pigs on U.S. farms, up 2 percent from March 2018, but down slightly from December 1, 2018, according to the Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report published today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).
Other key findings in the report were:
- Of the 74.3 million hogs and pigs, 67.9 million were market hogs, while 6.35 million were kept for breeding.
- Between December 2018 and February 2019, 33.0 million pigs were weaned on U.S. farms, up
3 percent from the same time period one year earlier. - From December 2018 through February 2019, U.S. hog and pig producers weaned an average of 10.70 pigs per litter.
- U.S. hog producers intend to have 3.12 million sows farrow between March and May 2019, and 3.19 million sows farrow between June and August 2019.
- Iowa hog producers accounted for the largest inventory among the states, at 23.5 million head.
North Carolina and Minnesota had the second and third largest inventories with 8.90 million and 8.70 million head, respectively.
To obtain an accurate measurement of the U.S. swine industry, NASS surveyed over 5,100 operators across the nation during the first half of March. The data collected were received by electronic data recording, mail, telephone and through face-to-face interviews. All surveyed producers were asked to report their hog and pig inventories as of March 1, 2019.
The Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report and all other NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov.
