QUARTERLY HOGS AND PIGS – MARCH 1, 2023

COLORADO

Colorado inventory of all hogs and pigs on March 1, 2023, was 580,000 head, up 9 percent from December 1, 2022, but down 2 percent from last year, according to the Mountain Regional Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA. Breeding inventory, at 140,000 head, was down 5,000 head from the previous quarter, but was unchanged head from last year. Market hog inventory, at 440,000 head, was up 14 percent from last quarter, but down 2 percent from last year.
The December 2022-February 2023 pig crop, at 594,000 head, was down 9 percent from the previous year. Sows farrowing during this period totaled 60,000 head, down 9 percent from a year ago. The average pigs saved per litter was 9.90 for the December-February period, compared with 9.90 last year.

UNITED STATES

United States inventory of all hogs and pigs on March 1, 2023, was 72.9 million head. This was up slightly from March 1, 2022, but down 2 percent from December 1, 2022. Breeding inventory, at 6.13 million head, was up slightly from last year, but down slightly from the previous quarter. Market hog inventory, at 66.7 million head, was up slightly from last year, but down 2 percent from last quarter.
The December 2022-February 2023 pig crop, at 32.1 million head, was up slightly from last year. Sows farrowing during this period totaled 2.91 million head, down slightly from previous year. The sows farrowed during this quarter represented 47 percent of the breeding herd. The average pigs saved per litter was 11.02 for the December 2022-February 2023 period, compared to 10.95 last year.

United States hog producers intend to have 2.93 million sows farrow during the March-May 2023 quarter, down 1 percent from the actual farrowings during the same period one year earlier, and down 3 percent from the same period two years earlier. Intended farrowings for June-August 2023, at 2.97 million sows, are down 3 percent from the same period one year earlier, and down 3 percent from the same period two years earlier. The total number of hogs under contract owned by operations with over 5,000 head, but raised by contractees, accounted for 51 percent of the total United States hog inventory, up 2 percent from the previous year.

All inventory and pig crop estimates for March 2022 through December 2022 were reviewed using final pig crop, official slaughter, death loss, and updated import and export data. The revision made to the December 2022 all hogs and pigs inventory was 1.8 percent.  A revision of 1.6 percent was made to the September 2022-November 2023 pig crop. The net revision made to the September 2022 all hogs and pigs inventory was 0.4 percent. A net revision of 1.5 percent was made to the June-August 2022 pig crop.