The number of hogs and pigs in the United States is up.

As of September 1, there were 68.4 million hogs and pigs on U.S. farms, an increase of four percent from a year ago, and two percent more than June of this year, according to the Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

Market hog inventory was 62.4 million head, up 4 percent from last year and two percent higher than last quarter to the highest market hog inventory since quarterly United States estimates began in 1988. Breeding inventory, at 5.99 million head, was up one percent from both last year and the previous quarter.

The June-August 2015 pig crop, at 30.6 million head, was up one percent from 2014 but sows farrowing during this period at 2.94 million head, were down two percent from 2014. The average pigs saved per litter was a record high 10.39 for the June-August period, compared to 10.16 last year.

United States hog producers intend to have 2.92 million sows farrow during the September-November 2015 quarter, down 2 percent from the actual farrowings during the same period in 2014, but up 5 percent from 2013. Intended farrowings for December-February 2016, at 2.87 million sows, are down 1 percent from 2015, but up 4 percent from 2014.

Steve Meyer, Vice President of Pork Analytics for Express Markets, Inc., said during a National Pork Board call on the report that the numbers were very much what the industry expected. Listen to his comments here: Livestock economist Steve Meyer