According to the USDA quarterly hogs and pigs report, the total inventory on March 1 was 72.9 million head. This was up three percent from last year. The breeding herd inventory is at 6.2 million head, up two percent from last year. The market hog inventory is at 66.7 million head, up three percent from March of 2017.
Indiana’s total hog and pig inventory on March 1 was 4.05 million head, unchanged from a year ago, according to Greg Matli, State Statistician of the USDA, NASS, Indiana Field Office. Breeding hog inventory, at 260,000 head, was down 7 percent from last March. Market hog inventory, at 3,790,000 head, was up 1 percent from last year. The average pigs saved per litter for the December to February quarter was 10.45, up 0.2 from the same period last year.
United States inventory of all hogs and pigs on March 1, 2018 was 72.9 million head. This was up 3 percent from March 1, 2017, but down 1 percent from December 1, 2017. Breeding inventory, at 6.20 million head, was up 2 percent from last year, and up slightly from the previous quarter. Market hog inventory, at 66.7 million head, was up 3 percent from last year, but down 1 percent from last quarter.
The December-February 2018 pig crop, at 32.3 million head, was up 4 percent from 2017. Sows farrowing during this period totaled 3.06 million head, up 2 percent from 2017. The sows farrowed during this quarter represented 49 percent of the breeding herd. The average pigs saved per litter was a record high of 10.58 for the December-February period, compared to 10.43 last year.
United States hog producers intend to have 3.08 million sows farrow during the March-May 2018 quarter, up 2 percent from the actual farrowings during the same period in 2017, and up 4 percent from 2016. Intended farrowings for June-August 2018, at 3.16 million sows, are up 1 percent from 2017, and up 4 percent from 2016.