Minor Expansion in US Hog Herd Confirmed

Mar 30, 2023

As expected, the USDA’s latest quarterly hogs and pigs report confirmed some minor expansion in the US hog herd.

Released Thursday, the report pegged the total US inventory of all hogs and pigs as of March at 72.86 million head, up about 0.2% from 72.68 million on the same date last year. Pre-report expectations were for a slightly more aggressive year-over-year increase of 0.3%.

The March 1 breeding inventory, at 6.13 million head was up roughly 0.5% on the year, compared to trade ideas of 0.6%. The number of market hogs came in at 66.73 million, an increase of about 0.2% from 66.59 million a year ago, but still also slightly below expectations.

The December 2022-February 2023 pig crop, at 32.1 million head, was up slightly from last year. Sows farrowing during this period totaled 2.91 million head, down slightly from previous year. The average pigs saved per litter was 11.02 for the December 2022-February 2023 period, compared to 10.95 last year.

Click here to see more...

Video: US Soy: Pig growth is impaired by soybean meal displacement in the diet

Eric van Heugten, PhD, professor and swine extension specialist at North Carolina State University, recently spoke at the Iowa Swine Day Pre-Conference Symposium, titled Soybean Meal 360°: Expanding our horizons through discoveries and field-proven feeding strategies for improving pork production. The event was sponsored by Iowa State University and U.S. Soy.

Soybean meal offers pig producers a high-value proposition. It’s a high-quality protein source, providing essential and non-essential amino acids to the pig that are highly digestible and palatable. Studies now show that soybean meal provides higher net energy than current National Research Council (NRC) requirements. Plus, soybean meal offers health benefits such as isoflavones and antioxidants as well as benefits with respiratory diseases such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).

One of several ingredients that compete with the inclusion of soybean meal in pig diets is dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS).

“With DDGS, we typically see more variable responses because of the quality differences depending on which plant it comes from,” said Dr. van Heugten. “At very high levels, we often see a reduction in performance especially with feed intake which can have negative consequences on pig performance, especially in the summer months when feed intake is already low and gaining weight is at a premium to get them to market.”

Over the last few decades, the industry has also seen the increased inclusion of crystalline amino acids in pig diets.

“We started with lysine at about 3 lbs. per ton in the diet, and then we added methionine and threonine to go to 6 to 8 lbs. per ton,” he said. “Now we have tryptophan, isoleucine and valine and can go to 12 to 15 lbs. per ton. All of these, when price competitive, are formulated into the diet and are displacing soybean meal which also removes the potential health benefits that soybean meal provides.”

Minor Expansion in US Hog Herd Confirmed

Trending Video

Video: US Soy: Pig growth is impaired by soybean meal displacement in the diet

Business News by Better Farming

General News by Better Farming

Forums by Agriville.com

Machinery News by Better Farming

Crop News by Better Farming

Livestock News by Better Farming

Sponsored Links: