USDA Quarterly Hog and Pig Report

Monday afternoon the USDA NASS released the quarterly Hog and Pig Report. There are 77.7 million hogs and pigs on U.S. farms. That is 3 percent larger than September of 2018. Of that total 71.2 million were market hogs while 6.43 million were hogs kept for breeding. In the last quarter U.S. Pork Producers had 3.11 million sows farrow and weaned an average of 11.11 pigs per litter. It was not long ago Pork Producers were pleased if they weaned 8 pigs per litter!

Looking at the state breakdowns was interesting. Iowa has 24.9 million head of hogs. Do the math, that is 30 percent of all the hogs in the U.S. are in Iowa! North Carolina is second with 9,5 million head and Minnesota is close behind ranking third with 9.00 million head. It is amazing how efficient and productive the Pork Industry is in the U.S. With the African Swine Fever wiping out a lot of China's Swine Industry U.S. Pork Producers are ready to export a lot of Pork to China!