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United States inventory of all hogs and pigs on December 1, 2019 was 77.3 million head. This was up 3 percent from December 1, 2018, but down slightly from September 1, 2019..Breeding inventory, at 6.46 million head, was up 2 percent from last year, and up slightly from the previous quarter. Market hog inventory, at 70.9 million head, was up 3 percent from last year, but down slightly from last quarter.
The September-November 2019 pig crop, at 35.1 million head, was up 2 percent from 2018. Sows farrowing during this period totaled 3.17 million head, down 1 percent from 2018. The sows farrowed during this quarter represented 49 percent of the breeding herd.The average pigs saved per litter was a record high of 11.09 for the September-November period, compared to 10.76 last year.
United States hog producers intend to have 3.13 million sows farrow during the December 2019-February 2020 quarter, up 1 percent from the actual farrowings during the same period one year earlier, and up 5 percent from the same period two years earlier. Intended farrowings for March-May 2020, at 3.15 million sows, are up slightly from the same period one year earlier, and up 3 percent from the same period two years earlier.
The total number of hogs under contract owned by operations with over 5,000 head, but raised by contractees, accounted for 48 percent of the total United States hog inventory, unchanged from the previous year.
2019 saw record quarterly estimates in all quarters for categories: all hogs and pigs, market, pig crop, pigs per litter. The one exception being the December 1 estimate of all hogs and pigs, for which the year 1943 holds the record.
Monday, December 23, 2019 /USDA/ USA.
https://usda.library.cornell.edu/
