Iowa Hog Inventory Relatively Unchanged
US - The size of Iowa’s swine herd increased slightly during the second quarter, but is unchanged from a year ago, according to the Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA).
2 July 2013
3 minute read
USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service issued its quarterly Hogs and Pigs Report on Friday (28 June) and as of 1 June there were 20.4 million hogs and pigs on Iowa farms. That’s up slightly from March and unchanged from the same date in 2012.
Iowa’s March-May 2013 pig crop was 5.20 million head. A total of 495,000 sows farrowed with an average litter size of 10.5 pigs per sow.
As of 1 June, Iowa farmers planned to farrow 500,000 head of sows and gilts in the June-August 2013 quarter. Farrowing intentions for the Sept.-Nov. 2013 were estimated at 495,000 as of 1 June.
United States inventory of all hogs and pigs on 1 June was 66.6 million head. This was down slightly from 1 June 2012, but up two per cent from 1 March 2013.
Breeding inventory, at 5.88 million head, was up slightly from last year, and up 1 per cent from the previous quarter. Market hog inventory, at 60.8 million head, was down slightly from last year, but up two per cent from last quarter.
The March-May 2013 pig crop, at 30.1 million head, was up slightly from 2012. Sows farrowed during this period totaled 2.92 million head, down two per cent from 2012. The sows farrowed during this quarter represented 50 per cent of the breeding herd. The average pigs saved per litter was a record high 10.31 for the March-May period, compared to 10.09 last year. Pigs saved per litter by size of operation ranged from 7.70 for operations with 1-99 hogs and pigs to 10.40 for operations with more than 5,000 hogs and pigs.
United States hog producers intend to have 2.93 million sows farrow during the June-Aug. 2013 quarter, down slightly from the actual farrowings during the same period in 2012, and down slightly from 2011. Intended farrowings for Sept.-Nov. 2013, at 2.92 million sows, are up 1 per cent from 2012, but down slightly from 2011.
The total number of hogs under contract owned by operations with more than 5,000 head, but raised by contractees, accounted for 46 per cent of the total United States hog inventory, down from 47 per cent last year.
