The U.S. inventory of all hogs and pigs on December 1 was 73.1 million head. The recent Hog and Pig Report says that’s down from December 1 of last year and one percent lower than September 1, 2022.
The breeding inventory was 6.15 million head, up slightly from last year and slightly higher than the prior quarter. Market hog inventory was 67 million head on December 1, down two percent from 2021 and one percent lower than last quarter in 2022. The September-November 2022 pig crop, at 33.7 million head, was one percent lower than in 2021. Sows farrowing during this period totaled three million head, down one percent from 2021. The sows that farrowed during the quarter represented 49 percent of the breeding herd.
Hog producers intend to have 2.95 million sows farrow during the December-February quarter, up one percent from the actual farrowings during the same period a year earlier.
(From the National Association of Farm Broadcasters)