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USDA reports smallest U.S. hog breeding herd since 2014

The USDA’s latest hogs and pig report estimates the smallest breeding herd in more than a decade.

Ever.Ag Chief Livestock Economist Lee Schulz says producers continue to pull back sows in production as productivity improves.

“We have fewer sows today than we did a year ago,” he says. “If you consider anything like a similar culling rate, you’d expect fewer sows to be available just because the base is smaller, and I think that’s part of the contribution here, as you look at a breeding herd that is smaller, but also sow slaughter that is smaller.”

He says a 12 percent decline in imports from Canada is also a factor.

“Or roughly about 30,000 head, so part of that reduction is just due to fewer imports year over year from Canada being available for slaughter,” he shares.

Schulz says he expects to see production decline into the next year, also because of increasing Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, or PRRS, cases on sow farms this fall.

USDA estimates September through November farrowings to fall three percent and December through February numbers could be slightly lower.

Schulz provided analysis as part of a National Pork Board webinar following USDA’s report.