The number of hogs on Iowa and U.S. farms as of December 1 has declined, according to the latest USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service Hogs and Pigs Report.
The report released Dec. 27 shows there were 20.5 million hogs and pigs on Iowa farms on Dec. 1. Inventory was down 2 percent from September 2013 and less than 1 percent from the same date a year ago.
The September 2013-November 2013 pig crop was 5.09 million head. A total of 480,000 sows farrowed with an average litter size of 10.6 pigs per sow.
As of December 1, producers planned to farrow 460,000 head of sows and gilts in the December 2013-February 2014 quarter. Farrowing intentions for the March-May 2014 period were estimated at 465,000 as of Dec. 1, 2013.
United States inventory of all hogs and pigs on Dec. 1, 2013, was 65.9 million head. This was down 1 percent from Dec. 1, 2012, and down 2 percent from Sept. 1, 2013.
Breeding inventory, at 5.76 million head, was down 1 percent from last year, and down 1 percent from the previous quarter.
Market hog inventory, at 60.2 million head, was down 1 percent from last year, and down 2 percent from last quarter.
The September-November 2013 pig crop, at 29.3 million head, was down slightly from 2012. Sows farrowing during this period totaled 2.88 million head, down slightly from 2012. The sows farrowed during this quarter represented 50 percent of the breeding herd.
The average pigs saved per litter was a record high 10.16 for the September-November period, compared to 10.15 last year. Pigs saved per litter by size of operation ranged from 8.00 for operations with 1-99 hogs and pigs to 10.20 for operations with more than 5,000 hogs and pigs.
United States hog producers intend to have 2.83 million sows farrow during the December 2013-February 2014 quarter, up 1 percent from the actual farrowings during the same period in 2013, and up slightly from 2012. Intended farrowings for March-May 2014, at 2.86 million sows, are up 1 percent from 2013, but down 3 percent from 2012.
The total number of hogs under contract owned by operations with more than 5,000 head, but raised by contractees, accounted for 48 percent of the total United States hog inventory, up from 47 percent last year.