United States Department of Agriculture

WASHINGTON, March 26, 2020 – As of March 1, there were 77.6 million hogs and pigs on U.S. farms, up 4 percent from March 2019, but down 1 percent from December 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 77.6 million hogs and pigs, 71.3 million were market hogs, while 6.38 million were kept for breeding.
• Between December 2019 and February 2020, 34.7 million pigs were weaned on U.S. farms, up 5 percent from the same time period one year earlier.
  
• From December 2019 through February 2020, U.S. hog and pig producers weaned an average of 11.00 pigs per litter.
• U.S. hog producers intend to have 3.12 million sows farrow between March and May 2020, and 3.13 million sows farrow between June and August 2020.
• Iowa hog producers accounted for the largest inventory among the states, at 24.6 million head. Minnesota had the second largest inventory at 9.30 million head. North Carolina was third with 9.20 million head.
  
  

To obtain an accurate measurement of the U.S. swine industry, NASS surveyed over 5,000 operators across the nation during the first half of March. 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 March 1, 2020.

The Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report and all other NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov.