January
December Hog and Pig Report Down 2%
Watching the Export Markets
The 2008 Population Bowl
Previous Issues
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December Hog and Pig Report Summary (12/30/08)
The US swine industry continued on its course of retraction in the last months of the year. Swine inventories in nearly all classifications are on the decline. Total hog and pig numbers declined 2.2 percent to 66.7 million head. The inventory of breeding swine declined 2.4 percent to 6.1 million head, while market hog numbers were down 2.1percent from last year at 60.6 million head. In Iowa, market hog numbers were up 2.2 percent at 18.7 million head while sow numbers declined a percent to 1.1 million head. The decreased pig crop in the fourth quarter of 08 and reduced imports from Canada have driven feeder pig inventories down more than 5 percent.
Cattle on Feed (12/20/08)
As of the first of the December there were 11.35 million head of cattle on feed in feedlots with more than a thousand head capacity, up 6 percent from a year ago. During November, cattle marketings were down 9 percent and placements were down 5 percent. In Iowa, total cattle on feed inventory are down 16 percent with large feedlot inventory is down 12 percent and small feedlots are down 27 percent.
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Slight Adjustments in November (11/10/08)
The November updates for USDA’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates and Crop Production reports were released on Nov. 10th. The markets were expected relatively minor adjustments and that’s what the reports showed. Acreage for corn and soybeans was held fixed at last month’s levels. The national corn yield was moved 0.1 bushels, to 153.8 bushels per acre. This lowers expected production to 12.02 billion bushels, still the 2nd largest corn crop on record. The national soybean yield was lowered to 39.3 bushels per acre, down 0.2. The yield adjustment lowers expected production to 2.92 billion bushels. This would be the 4th largest soybean crop, behind the 2004-06 crops.
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