The Pork Checkoff hosted a news media conference call following the USDA’s Quarterly Hogs and Pigs Report on Friday, March 25, 2016. Three distinguished agricultural economists: Dr. Scott Brown, Extension Livestock Economist, the University of Missouri, Dr. Lee Schultz, Livestock Economist, Iowa State University, and Altin Kalo, Senior Analyst, Steiner Consulting Group, were on hand to give their reactions to the report.

Numbers from the report came in pretty close to analysts predications, with a few outliers spotted throughout the data. 67.644 million head of all pigs, up four tenths of one percent. The Breeding herd is 5.98 million head is 100% of a year ago. The market herd is 61.664 million head is up 6 tenths of one percent.

For the weight categories, pigs under 50 pounds are down 4 tenths of a percent at 19.382 million head, while 50 to 119 pound pigs are up 8 tenths of a percent at 17.263 million head. The 120-179 pound category, at 13.744 million head, is up 1.2 percent from a year ago, and the 180 pounds and over category is up 0.2 percent.

December-Februrary farrowing is down 8 tenths of a percent from a year ago, and March-May farrowing is down a half a percent from a year ago. June-August farrowing is down 3.5 percent from a year ago, and the December-February pig crop down 2 tenths of a percent from a year ago.
December-February pigs per litter is up six tenths of a percent from a year ago.

Listen to the full press conference here:
National Pork Board Ag Media Teleconference