On March 1, 2020, there were 9.30 million hogs and pigs on Minnesota farms, according to the latest USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service – Hogs and Pigs report.
The March 1st inventory is down 1 percent from the previous quarter but up 6 percent from the previous year.
The December-February 2020 quarterly pig crop was 3.56 million head, down 2 percent from the previous quarter but up 2 percent from last year.
A total of 300,000 sows farrowed during this quarter. The average pigs saved per litter was 11.85 for the quarter, unchanged from the previous quarter.
As of March 1st, producers planned to farrow 275,000 sows and gilts in the March-May quarter and 270,000 head during the June-August quarter.
United States inventory of all hogs and pigs on March 1st, 2020 was 77.6 million head.
This was up 4 percent from March 1st, 2019, but down 1 percent from December 1, 2019.
Breeding inventory, at 6.38 million head, was up slightly from last year, but down 1 percent from the previous quarter.
Market hog inventory, at 71.3 million head, was up 4 percent from last year, but down 1 percent from last quarter.
The December 2019-February 2020 pig crop, at 34.7 million head, was up 5 percent from last year.
Sows farrowing during this period totaled 3.16 million head, up 2 percent from previous year.
The sows farrowed during this quarter represented 49 percent of the breeding herd.
The average pigs saved per litter was a record high of 11.00 for the December 2019-February 2020 period, compared to 10.70 last year.
United States hog producers intend to have 3.12 million sows farrow during the March-May 2020 quarter, down slightly from the actual farrowings during the same period one year earlier, but up 2 percent from the same period two years earlier.
Intended farrowings for June-August 2020, at 3.13 million sows, are down 4 percent from the same period one year earlier, and down 1 percent from the same period two years earlier.
The total number of hogs under contract owned by operations with over 5,000 head, but raised by contractees, accounted for 49 percent of the total United States hog inventory, up 2 percent from the previous year.
