As of March 1, there were 72.2 million hogs and pigs on United States farms, down 2% from March 2021 and down 3% from Dec. 1, 2021, according to the Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report published March 30 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Other key findings in the report were:
• Of the 72.2 million hogs and pigs, 66.1 million were market hogs, while 6.10 million were kept for breeding;
• between December 2021 and February 2022, 31.7 million pigs were weaned on U.S. farms, down 1% from the same time period one year earlier;
• from December 2021 through February 2022, U.S. hog and pig producers weaned an average of 10.95 pigs per litter;
• U.S. hog producers intend to have 2.99 million sows farrow between March and May 2022, and 3.03 million sows farrow between June and August 2022; and
• Iowa hog producers accounted for the largest inventory among the states at 23 million head. Minnesota had the second largest inventory at 8.6 million head. North Carolina was third with 8 million head.
To obtain an accurate measurement of the U.S. swine industry, NASS surveyed roughly 4,700 operators across the nation during the first half of March. The data collected were received by electronic data reporting, mail and telephone.
The Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report and all other NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov
