Indiana’s total hog and pig inventory on March 1 was estimated at 3.70 million head, down 50,000 head from a year ago, according to Greg Matli, State Statistician of the USDA, NASS, Indiana Field Office. Breeding hog inventory, at 260,000 head, was down 7.1 percent from last March. Market hog inventory, at 3,440,000 head, was down 0.9 percent from last year. The average pigs saved per litter for the December to February quarter at 10.20 was up 0.1 pigs from last year. United States inventory of all hogs and pigs on March 1, 2016 was 67.6 million head. This was up slightly from March 1, 2015, but down 1 percent from December 1, 2015. Breeding inventory, at 5.98 million head, was down slightly from last year, and down slightly from the previous quarter. Market hog inventory, at 61.7 million head, was up slightly percent from last year, but down 1 percent from last quarter.
The December 2015 – February 2016 pig crop, at 29.6 million head, was down slightly from 2015. Sows farrowing during this period totaled 2.87 million head, down 1 percent from 2015. The sows farrowed during this quarter represented 48 percent of the breeding herd. The average pigs saved per litter was a record high 10.30 for the December-February period, compared to 10.23 last year. Pigs saved per litter by size of operation ranged from 8.00 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 2.84 million sows farrow during the March-May 2016 quarter, down 1 percent from the actual farrowings during the same period in 2015, but up 1 percent from 2014. Intended farrowings for June-August 2016, at 2.91 million sows, are down 3 percent from 2015, and down 3 percent from 2014.