Livestock producers are gearing up for Thursday?s Quarterly Hogs and Pigs Report from the USDA.
Steve Meyer is a consulting economist for the National Pork Board. He says there are several things producers will be keeping an eye on in the report, especially market herd size.
?I think, critical obviously right now is going to be what is the size of the market herd,? Meyer said. ?There’s been so much uncertainty about that over the last 12 months with animals backed up, with euthanasia of pigs, with a number of things. So, I think we have to watch that pretty closely. I think we’re going to have a slightly larger market herd than we did a year ago, some others have already been noted to be underneath that number, but that’s going to be critical as we go into the summer because that determines the market hog supply that’s going to be there.?
Meyer believes the ?pigs-per-litter? data will be the most important in Thursday?s report. He says the litter size this quarter will not impact marketings until the summer months.
?The most important number in the report is going to be the pigs per litter figure,? Meyer said. ?Last year we were basically flat on pigs per litter, that kind of defies the pattern of the last ten years, when we’ve grown between one and one and a half percent per year on pigs per liter without any growth last year. And that was because in my opinion, management decisions. And so, I think that flat litter size last year was management driven, not genetics driven or health driven, and I think we’re going to have to watch that pretty closely this year because we could see a pretty robust growth and litter size, and if we do that will obviously add pigs to the supply as we go on out.?
Following the report?s release, the National Pork Board will host a webinar for pork producers at 3:30 p.m. Central Time on Thursday. To register, click here.
