Annual Pigs Per Breeding Animal Continues To Increase

The U.S. Hog Breeding Herd Structure report provides an official periodic review of efficiency trends and changes in the structure of the breeding herd. This report compares the current 2005 production year data to the 2003 production data released in the previous report, published September 2004. In 2005, the efficiency of the U.S. hog breeding herd continued to steadily increase with the average number of pigs per year per breeding animal again on the rise. The average number of annual pigs per breeding herd animal (including sows, gilts and boars) was 17.4 in 2005, up from 16.9 in 2003.

This steady increase in the average number of pigs per breeding animal is largely due to the increase in the number of litters per sow per year. This increase in productivity has continued to be a factor in the breeding herd stability since 2000 (Charts 1 and 2). Additionally, the increase in pigs per breeding animal for operations with less than 5,000 head is largely attributed to the decrease of less efficient operations of fewer than 1,000 head and an increase in the amount of operations with 1,000 to 4,999 head.

Reported changes in 2005 for U.S. hog operations with more than 5,000 head include:

• The number of operations increased to 2,360, up from 2,270 in 2003.
• These large operations accounted for 82 percent of the pig crop, an increase from 79 percent in 2003.
• The litter rate averaged 9.09 pigs per liter, up from 8.99 in 2003.
• The number of pigs per breeding animal per year increased from 17.24 pigs to 17.77 pigs, an increase of 0.53 pigs or 3 percent. Reported changes in 2005 for U.S. hog operations with less than 5,000 head include:
  1. The number of operations decreased to 64,970, down from 71,450 in 2003. The majority of this decline was in operations with less than 500 head.
  2. These operations of less than 5,000 head accounted for 18 percent of the pig crop, a decrease from 21 percent in 2003.
  3. The litter rate averaged 8.66 pigs per liter, up from 8.48 in 2003.
  4. The number of pigs per breeding animal per year increased from 15.62 in 2003 to 16.01 in 2005, an increase of 0.39 pigs or 2 percent.

Feeder pig imports have become more of a factor in the structure of the U.S. breeding herd. The U.S. imported 5.3 million Canadian feeder pigs from December 2004 - November 2005, down 6 percent from the same period a year earlier but up 11 percent from two years ago. (Source: Foreign Agricultural Service and Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau). These imports account for approximately 16 percent of Canada’s annual pig crop. (Source: Statistics Canada, Agricultural Division). These feeders, if domestically produced, would require approximately 5 percent more U.S. breeding inventory annually.

Further Information

To read the full report, click here

September 2006