The number of hogs on Iowa farms has declined over the past three months, according to the latest Hogs and Pigs Report from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

The report issued on March 25 showed there were 20.2 million hogs and pigs on Iowa farms as of March 1. The inventory was down 600,000-head from the previous quarter and 200,000-head from the previous year.

The December 2015-February 2016 quarterly pig crop was 5.24 million head, down 7 percent from the previous quarter and 4 percent below last year. A total of 490,000 sows farrowed during this quarter. The pigs-saved-per-litter average was 10.70 for the December-February quarter, down from 11.00 the previous quarter.

As of March 1, Iowa hog farmers planned to farrow 490,000 sows and gilts in the March-May quarter and 490,000 head during the June-August quarter.

U.S. Hogs and Pigs
United States inventory of all hogs and pigs on March 1, 2016 was 67.6 million head. This was up slightly from March 1, 2015, but down 1 percent from the last quarter.

Breeding inventory, at 5.98 million head, was down slightly from last year, and down slightly from the previous quarter. Market hog inventory, at 61.7 million head, was up slightly from last year, but down 1 percent from last quarter.

The December 2015-February 2016 pig crop, at 29.6 million head, was down slightly from 2015. Sows farrowing during this period totaled 2.87 million head, down 1 percent from 2015. The sows farrowed during this quarter represented 48 percent of the breeding herd.

The pigs-saved-per-litter average was a record high 10.30 for the December-February period, compared to 10.23 last year. The pigs-saved-per-litter by size of operation ranged from 8.00 for operations with 1-99 hogs and pigs to 10.40 for operations with more than 5,000 hogs and pigs.

U.S. hog farmers intend to have 2.84 million sows farrow during the March-May 2016 quarter, down 1 percent from the actual farrowings during the same period in 2015, but up 1 percent from 2014. Intended farrowings for June-August 2016, at 2.91 million sows, are down 3 percent from 2015 and down 3 percent from 2014.

The total number of hogs under contract owned by operations with more than 5,000 head, but raised by contractees, accounted for 46 percent of the total United States hog inventory, unchanged from last year.

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