United States Hog Inventory Up 3 Percent

Oct 01, 2019

As of September 1, there were 77.7 million hogs and pigs on U.S. farms, up 3 percent from September 2018, and up 3 percent from June 1, 2019, according to the Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report published today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

Other key findings in the report were:

Of the 77.7 million hogs and pigs, 71.2 million were market hogs, while 6.43 million were kept for breeding.
Between June and August 2019, 35.3 million pigs were weaned on U.S. farms, up 3 percent from the same time period one year earlier.
From June through August 2019, U.S. hog and pig producers weaned an average of 11.11 pigs per litter.
U.S. hog producers intend to have 3.16 million sows farrow between September and November 2019, and 3.11 million sows farrow between December 2019 and February 2020.
Iowa hog producers accounted for the largest inventory among the states, at 24.9 million head. North Carolina and Minnesota had the second and third largest inventories with 9.50 million and 9.00 million head, respectively.

To obtain an accurate measurement of the U.S. swine industry, NASS surveyed over 5,200 operators across the nation during the first half of September. The data collected were received by electronic data recording, mail, telephone and through face-to-face interviews. All surveyed producers were asked to report their hog and pig inventories as of September 1, 2019.

Source : NASS USDA

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.