Posted June 29, 2012

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service issued its quarterly Hogs and Pigs report today and it shows a few more hogs on Iowa farms.

As of June 1, there were 20.1 million hogs and pigs on Iowa farms, according to the report. That matches the total from September 2011, but is 2 percent higher than June 1, 2011, and March 1, 2012.

The March to May 2012 pig crop was 5.04 million head. A total of 485,000 sows farrowed with an average litter size of 10.4 pigs per sow.

As of June 1, Iowa hog farmers planned to farrow 480,000 head of sows and gilts in the June to August 2012 quarter. Farrowing intentions for the September to November 2012 period were estimated at 480,000 head.

United States inventory of all hogs and pigs on June 1 was 65.8 million head, an increase of 1 percent from

June 1, 2011, and 1 percent from March 1, 2012.

Breeding inventory, at 5.86 million head, was up 1 percent from last year, and up 1 percent from the previous quarter. Market hog inventory, at 60.0 million head, was up 1 percent from last year, and up 1 percent from last quarter.

The March to May 2012 pig crop, at 29.4 million head, was up 1 percent from 2011. Sows farrowing during this period totaled 2.92 million head, up slightly from 2011. The sows farrowed during this quarter represented 50 percent of the breeding herd.

The average pigs saved per litter was a record high 10.09 for the March-May period, compared to 10.03 last year.

U.S. hog producers intend to have 2.90 million sows farrow during the June to August 2012 quarter, down 1 percent from the actual farrowings during the same period in 2011, and down 1 percent from 2010. Intended farrowings for September to November 2012, at 2.89 million sows, are down 1 percent from 2011, but up slightly from 2010.