USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service Hogs and Pigs report for the fourth quarter of 2014 indicates there were 20.9 million hogs and pigs on Iowa farms on Dec. 1. The number ties September 2013 for the highest inventory on record, according to USDA.
The Dec. 1 inventory was up 1 percent from September 2014 and up 3 percent from last December’s 20.2 million head.
The September-to-November quarterly pig crop was 5.19 million head, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but 8 percent above last year. A total of 485,000 sows farrowed during this quarter. The average pigs saved per litter was 10.70 for the September-to-November quarter, matching the record pigs saved per litter from the previous quarter.
As of Dec. 1, producers planned to farrow 480,000 head of sows and gilts in the Dec. 2014 to Feb. 2015 quarter and 485,000 head during the March-to-May 2015 quarter.
United States’ inventory of all hogs and pigs on Dec. 1, 2014, was 66.1 million head. This was up 2 percent from Dec. 1, 2013, and up 1 percent from Sept. 1, 2014.
Breeding inventory, at 5.97 million head, was up 4 percent from last year and up 1 percent from the previous quarter. Market hog inventory, at 60.1 million head, was up 2 percent from last year, and up 1 percent from last quarter.
The September-to-November 2014 pig crop, at 29.4 million head, was up 4 percent from 2013. Sows farrowing during this period totaled 2.87 million head, up 3 percent from 2013. The sows farrowed during this quarter represented 48 percent of the breeding herd. The average pigs saved per litter was a record high 10.23 for the September-to-November period, compared to 10.16 last year. Pigs saved per litter by size of operation ranged from 8.10 for operations with 1-99 hogs and pigs to 10.30 for operations with more than 5,000 hogs and pigs.
United States hog producers intend to have 2.87 million sows farrow during the December-to-February 2015 quarter, up 4 percent from the actual farrowings during the same period in 2014, and up 3 percent from 2013. Intended farrowings for March to May 2015, at 2.90 million sows, are up 3 percent from 2014, and up 3 percent from 2013.
The total number of hogs under contract owned by operations with over 5,000 head, but raised by contractees, accounted for 46 percent of the total United States hog inventory, down from 48 percent last year.
Source: IowaPork