U.S. hog inventory below a year ago

The U.S. hog herd got a little bit smaller over the past year and could see further declines.

The USDA says the domestic hog and pig inventory on March 1st, 2025 was 74.512 million head, slightly below March 1st, 2024, when many analysts had been expecting an increase.

That included a 1% decline in the breeding herd to 5.98 million head and a modest decrease for the market herd to 68.532 million head.

Other areas of the report also came in below pre-report estimates.

The December through February pig crop was fractionally lower than last year at 33.701 million head and while there were a record number of pigs saved per litter at 11.65, there were a few less saved than anticipated.

Farrowing intentions for March through May and June through August are also expected to be under year ago levels.

52% of the total U.S. swine inventory were on contract operations larger than 5,000 head, steady with the year before.