As of December first, U.S. farms contained 77.3 million hogs and pigs.
That’s a three percent jump from December of last year, but down slightly from September first of this year.
Those were some of the numbers released in the Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report this week, published by the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Other key findings in the report said of those 77.3 million hogs and pigs, 70.9 were market hogs while 6.46 million were kept for breeding purposes.
Between September and November of this year, 35.1 million pigs were weaned across U.S. farms, which is up two percent from the same time in 2018.
From September through November, U.S. hog and pig farmers weaned an average of 11 pigs per litter.
U.S. producers intend to have 3.13 million sows farrow between December of this year and February of 2020.
They’ll also have another 3.15 million sows farrow between March and May of next year. Iowa has the largest inventory among the states, coming in at 24.8 million head.
North Carolina and Minnesota tied for second, with each having 9.2 million head of hogs in inventory.
