A USDA hogs and pigs report Thursday showed the March 1 total national inventory, breeding herd, and the number of hogs kept for marketing all below the year-ago level.
The inventory of all hogs and pigs on American farms at the beginning of the month was pegged at 74.512 million head, down slightly from 74.691 million the previous year. Meanwhile, the March 1 breeding herd, at 5.98 million head, was 1% below a year earlier, while the market hog inventory inched lower to 68.532 million head.
Going into the report, most traders and analysts were projecting increases for all three categories compared to a year earlier, with the total number of hogs and pigs and the market hog inventory expected to be 1% higher.
The December 2024-February 2025 pig crop, at 33.7 million head, was down slightly from last year. Sows farrowing during this period totaled 2.89 million head, 1% below the previous year. The average
pigs saved per litter was 11.65 for the December 2024-February 2025 period, compared to 11.53 last year.
The report said US hog producers intend to have 2.91 million sows farrow during the March-May 2025 quarter, down slightly from the actual farrowings during the same period one year earlier, and down 1% from the same period two years earlier. Intended farrowings for June-August 2025, at 2.96 million sows, are down 1% from the same period one year earlier, and down 2% from the same period two years earlier.
April lean hog futures prices have been trading sideways and choppy for the past nearly three weeks.
