Canadian Hog Numbers Decline for Second Straight Year

Feb 27, 2024

The number of hogs on Canadian farms as of Jan. 1 fell for the second straight time and hit the lowest in 8 years, according to a Statistics Canada livestock report Friday.

The report pegged the total number of hogs nationwide at the beginning of the New Year at 13.76 million head, down 1% from a year earlier and the lowest Jan. 1 count since 2016 at 13.63 million. Rising feed costs, labour shortages, reduced processing capacity and international market issues, especially in eastern Canada, all combined to reduce the national hog herd, StatsCan said.

The problems have hit particularly hard in the largest pork production province of Quebec, where leading processor Olymel has closed several facilities and is reducing its slaughter capacity by an estimated 1.6 million hogs a year. Meanwhile, amid heavy losses, it was reported late last year that more than 20% of Quebec hog producers had applied for a program to compensate farmers who sharply reduced their herds or quit the industry altogether.

At 4.16 million, the total number of hogs on Quebec farms as of Jan. 1 was down almost 5% on the year. On the other hand, Ontario numbers held mostly steady at 3.6 million, while Manitoba’s herd was up 2.4% at 3.35 million head. Alberta hog numbers were steady from the previous year at 1.53 million, with Saskatchewan down only slightly at 945,000.

The national breeding herd as of Jan. 1 was estimated at 1.21 million head, a 2.2% decline compared to a year earlier, while the number of market hogs was up slightly at 2.62 million. The Canadian pig crop, which represents the number of live piglets after weaning, rose to 14.9 million from July to December 2023, a 2% increase compared with July to December 2022.

From July to December 2023, the total hog slaughter increased 1% to 10.9 million head, and international exports of live hogs increased 7.4% to 3.4 million head during the same period, StatsCan said.

Source : Syngenta.ca

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.