The USDA's Quarterly Hogs & Pigs report was released Thursday, March 28th reporting generally decreased hog inventories from the previous quarter though up modestly compared to last year.
- All Hogs & Pigs fell -1.6% or 1,245 thousand head under the inventory reported in December, bringing the latest inventory 435 thousand or +0.6% over March 2023.
- Kept for Breeding climbed +0.3% or 17 thousand from the total in December, which is up -2.1% or 130 thousand head under a year earlier.
- Market hogs were -1.8% or 1,262 thousand head lower than the previous quarter, which is up +0.8% or 566 thousand head over last year.
- The March pig crop declined 1,644 thousand head or
-4.7% from previously reported, bringing the pig crop +1.9% or 611 thousand head over year-ago levels.
- Pigs per litter slipped -1.1% from the previous quarter to 11.53 pigs/litter for the Dec-Feb period (with the previous quarter representing a historical high of 11.66 pigs/litter for the Sep-Nov period), with the latest pigs per litter reported +4.6% higher than last year.
Revisions, as stated by the USDA:
All inventory and pig crop estimates for March 2023 through December 2023 were reviewed using final pig crop, official slaughter, death loss, and updated import and export data. The revision made to the December 2023 all hogs and pigs inventory was 1.1 percent. A revision of 0.5 percent was made to the September 2023-November 2023 pig crop. The net revision made to the September 2023 all hogs and pigs inventory was 2.4 percent. A net revision of 3.1 percent was made to the June-August 2023 pig crop.