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Those in the livestock trade are looking ahead at a couple of reports, one from the hog industry and one from the cattle industry. Rusty Halvorson has the story.
USDA’s December Hogs and Pigs Report put the December 1 inventory at 75.8 million head. That’s down about a percentage point from the previous quarter but up a half percent from last year. University of Missouri Agricultural Economist Jason Franken says it was the size of the September through November pig crop that captured the trade’s attention.
“Up more than two percent from a year ago and just above the upper end of the range of pre-report expectations, as a 0.2 percent cut in sows farrowed was more than offset by 11.92 pigs per litter, up 2.3 percent from last year’s record for the period, continuing the upward trend in pigs per litter.”
USDA’s next Hogs and Pigs report will be released on Mar 27, 2025.
Meanwhile, Bernt Nelson, an economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, says all eyes in the cattle industry will be on the Cattle Inventory Report at the end of January.
“We’re anticipating some decrease in the overall cattle inventory. Overall, if we look at the industry expectations, what some of the analysts are throwing out there, they’re expecting even placements from last year, or even 101 percent of last year, and I find this a little bit surprising. Even if we look at a one to two percent decline, that still brings us down to that 86-and-a-half million mark, and that’s still the fewest cattle we’ve had in 73 years.”