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United States Hog Inventory Up Slightly From Year Ago

Late last week, DTN reported that, “United States inventory of all hogs and pigs on Sept. 1, 2023, was 74.3 million head. This was up slightly from Sept. 1, 2022, and up 2% from June 1, 2023, USDA NASS reported on Thursday.

Quarterly Hogs and Pigs. USDA- National Agricultural Statistics Service (September 28, 2023).

Breeding inventory, at 6.08 million head, was down 1% from last year, and down 1% from the previous quarter.

September Quarterly Hogs and Pigs. Agricultural Statistics Board Briefing. Travis Averill, Chief Livestock Branch. USDA- National Agricultural Statistics Service (September 28, 2023).

Market hog inventory, at 68.2 million head, was up slightly from last year, and up 2% from last quarter.”

And Dow Jones writer Kirk Maltais reported on Thursday that, “In its quarterly Hogs and Pigs Report issued Thursday, the USDA said for the quarter ended Sept. 1, total inventories of hogs and pigs climbed by 194,000 head to 74.32 million head. That is an uptick of 0.3 percentage points from last year, running counter to expectations for a decline in inventories.”

September Quarterly Hogs and Pigs. Agricultural Statistics Board Briefing. Travis Averill, Chief Livestock Branch. USDA- National Agricultural Statistics Service (September 28, 2023).

Maltais added that,

The report also showed the average amount of piglets in a litter again soared for the quarter.

“Pigs per litter hit an average of 11.61 pigs per litter, which is up from 11.13 at this time last year.

September Quarterly Hogs and Pigs. Agricultural Statistics Board Briefing. Travis Averill, Chief Livestock Branch. USDA- National Agricultural Statistics Service (September 28, 2023).

“Analysts told The Wall Street Journal this week a higher pigs-per-litter count would offset reductions in the breeding herd.”

Keith Good Photo

Keith Good is the Farm Policy News editor for the farmdoc project. He has previously worked for the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, and compiled the daily FarmPolicy.com News Summary from 2003-2015. He is a graduate of Purdue University (M.S.- Agricultural Economics), and Southern Illinois University School of Law.

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