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USDA reports hogs and pigs as of March 1
Story Date: 4/2/2012
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Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 4/2/12
United States inventory of all hogs and pigs on March 1, 2012 was 64.9 million head, up 2 percent from a year ago, in line with analysts’ pre-report average estimate of a 1.7 percent increase. Compared to Dec. 1, 2011, the inventory was down 2 percent.
Breeding inventory, at 5.82 million head, was up 1 percent from last year, and up slightly from the previous quarter. On average, analysts were expecting breeding herd to increase only by 0.3 percent from a year ago, according to a Dow Jones survey.
Market hog inventory, at 59.1 million head, was up 2 percent from last year, in line with analysts’ average forecast of a 1.8 percent increase. The inventory was down 2 percent from last quarter.
The December 2011-February 2012 pig crop, at 28.7 million head, was up 3 percent from 2011. Analysts were expecting a 2.4 percent increase.
December-February sow farrowings totaled 2.88 million head, up 1 percent from 2011, at the top of the range of analysts’ estimates. The sows farrowed during this quarter represented 50 percent of the breeding herd.
The average pigs saved per litter were a record high 9.97 for the December-February period, compared to 9.80 last year. Pigs saved per litter by size of operation ranged from 7.30 for operations with 1-99 hogs and pigs to 10.00 for operations with more than 5,000 hogs and pigs.
United States hog producers intend to have 2.89 million sows farrow during the March-May 2012 quarter, down 1 percent from the actual farrowings during the same period in 2011. Analysts on average had expected farrowings to increase 0.2 percent in the period.
Intended farrowings for June-August 2012, at 2.88 million sows, are down 2 percent from 2011, contradicting analysts’ expectations that intended farrowings for the period would increase by 0.3 percent.
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