Introduction

This document aims to pull together, in one place of reference, all the various information generated by the USDA Quarterly report. Included in this document are:

For a PRINTABLE VERSION of the full 24 page report in PDF format, including all the tabular data which is not shown in this article, Click Here

USDA Quarterly Hogs and Pigs Report: March 2009

US Hog Inventory down 3 Per Cent

US inventory of all hogs and pigs on 1 March 2009 was 65.4 million head. This was down 3 per cent from 1 March 2008 and down 2 per cent from 1 December 2008.

Breeding inventory, at 6.01 million head, was down 3 per cent from last year and down 1 per cent from the previous quarter. Market hog inventory, at 59.4 million head, was down 3 per cent from last year and down 2 per cent from last quarter.

The December 2008-February 2009 pig crop, at 28.2 million head, was down 1 per cent from 2008 but up 7 per cent from 2007. Sows farrowing during this period totaled 2.98 million head, down 3 per cent from 2008 but up 3 per cent from 2007. The sows farrowed during this quarter represented 50 per cent of the breeding herd. The average pigs saved per litter was 9.48 for the December 2008- February 2009 period, compared to 9.24 last year. Pigs saved per litter by size of operation ranged from 7.30 for operations with 1-99 hogs and pigs to 9.50 for operations with more than 5,000 hogs and pigs.

US Quarterly Hogs and Pigs Inventory: 1 March

US hog producers intend to have 2.96 million sows farrow during the March-May 2009 quarter, down 3 per cent from the actual farrowings during the same period in 2008 and down 2 per cent from 2007. Intended farrowings for June-August 2009, at 2.95 million sows, are down 4 per cent from 2008 and down 6 per cent from 2007.

The total number of hogs under contract owned by operations with over 5,000 head, but raised by contractees, accounted for 45 percent of the total U.S. hog inventory, up from 40 percent last year.

Revisions

All inventory and pig crop estimates for March 2008 through December 2008 were reviewed using slaughter, death loss and current import and export data. Based on this review, adjustments of less than one half of one per cent were made to the December 2008 total inventory, March-May 2008 pig crop, and June-August 2008 pig crop.

What It All Means - Expert Commentary

What the commentators and industry thinkers read into this data:

Ron Plain and Glenn Grimes Grimes & Plain on the Hogs and Pigs Report USDA's 1 March Hogs & Pigs Report came in a little more bullish than the trade estimates for the breeding herd but were within the potential sampling error, write Glenn Grimes and Ron Plain.

Steve Meyer, Paragon Economics, Inc Hogs & Pigs Report Once Again Bullish USDA’s quarterly Hogs and Pigs report, released on Friday, was once again a mixture of bullish and bearish numbers with market supplies a bit bearish and breeding herd numbers a bit bullish in the long run, writes Steve Meyer, Ph.D., Paragon Economics, Inc.

Jim Long Pork Commentary: USDA 1 March Hogs and Pigs Report The USDA has the US breeding herd down 189,000 from last March. This is a decline of almost 4,000 per week, writes Jim Long.

In The News - What The Media Says

• CME: USDA Quarterly Report Bullish and Bearish - CME
• US Swine Economics Report - AgEBB
• United States Pig Herd Continues to Shrink - NPA
• Weekly Review: Hogs and Pigs Report Mixed - AgEBB
• Market Preview: Pig Crop Report Revisited - National Hog Farmer

Graph Data from the Report

US Quarterly Litter Rate
December-February


US Pigs per Litter
By Size of Operation, December-February 2009


US Quarterly Sows Farrowed
December-February


US Quarterly Pig Crop
December-February


US Hog Inventory & Market Hogs
1 March


US Hog Inventory & Market Hogs
1 June


US Hog Inventory & Market Hogs
1 September


US Hog Inventory & Market Hogs
1 December

Reliability of 1 March Hogs and Pigs Estimates

To review this information, including the Survey Procedures, Estimation Procedures, Revision Policy and Reliability, please download the PDF

Quarterly Hogs and Pigs Report, March 2009 - USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service