Characteristics and Production Costs of U.S. Hog Farms, 2004
By William D. McBride and Nigel Key
Economic Information Bulletin No. (EIB-32) 41 pp,
December 2007
Hog production in 2004 was characterized by wide variation in the types, sizes, and
economic performance of operations. Operations specializing in a single production
phase generated more than three times the product value, on average, of those using the
traditional farrow-to-finish approach. Low-cost operations tended to be larger, located
in the Heartland, and operated by farmers whose primary occupation was farming.
Small and medium operations far outnumbered large and very large operations, but large
and very large operations accounted for most of the production. Average production
costs declined as the size of the hog operation increased, a result of reduced capital
costs and more efficient input use. Hog production was highly concentrated in the
Heartland, but the largest operations were specialized hog finishing units in the
Southern Seaboard.
Keywords: Agriculture, swine, hogs, hog production, hog operations, Agricultural
Resource Management Survey, production costs, economies of size, ERS, USDA
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Updated date: December 27, 2007
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