The 22 million hogs on Iowa farms on Sept. 1 increased to 22.4 million on Dec. 1 as pig farmers continue to achieve successful production results. The all-time record swine inventory was reported on Dec. 23 by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service in its quarterly Hogs and Pigs Report.

The Dec. 1 inventory was up just 1 percent from the previous quarter, but it was 7 percent more than the same 2015 date.

North Carolina, with 9.30 million head, and Minnesota, at 8.30 million head, trailed Iowa in swine inventory, according to NASS.

The Sept.-Nov. quarterly pig crop was 6.10 million head, up 11 percent from the previous quarter and up 5 percent from last year. A total of 560,000 sows farrowed during this quarter. The average pigs saved per litter was 10.9 for the Sept.-Nov. quarter, just below last quarter’s record high 11.0 pigs saved per litter.

As of Dec. 1, producers planned to farrow 520,000 sows and gilts in each of the December 2016-February 2017 and the March-May 2017 quarters.

There were 71.5 million head on all U.S. farms as of Dec. 1. This was a 4 percent hike from Dec. 1, 2015, and a slight increase from the Sept. 1 report.

Of the total hog and pig inventory, 65.4 million were market hogs. The breeding total was 6.09 million head.

The Sept.-Nov. pig crop, at 32.3 million head, was up 5 percent from 2015. Sows farrowing during this period totaled 3.04 million head, up 4 percent from 2015. The sows farrowed during this quarter represented 51 percent of the breeding herd. The average pigs saved per litter was a record high 10.63 for the Sept.-Nov. period, compared to 10.53 last year.

U.S. hog producers intend to have 2.97 million sows farrow during the Dec.-Feb. 2017 quarter, up 1 percent from the actual farrowings during the same period in 2016, and up 3 percent from 2015. Intended farrowings for March-May 2017, at 3.00 million sows, are up 1 percent from 2016, and up 5 percent from 2015.

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, up from 46 percent last year.

NASS surveyed approximately 10,500 operators across the nation during the first half of December to compile the report. All surveyed producers were asked to report their hog and pig inventories as of Dec. 1, 2016.

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