U.S. Hog Breeding Herd Structure (Released September 22, 2006)

摘要

The U.S. Hog Breeding Herd Structure report provides an official periodic review of efficiency trends and changes in the structure of the breeding herd. This report compares the current 2005 production year data to the 2003 production data released in the previous report, published September 2004. In 2005, the efficiency of the U.S. hog breeding herd continued to steadily increase with the average number of pigs per year per breeding animal again on the rise. The average number of annual pigs per breeding herd animal (including sows, gilts and boars) was 17.4 in 2005, up from 16.9 in 2003. This steady increase in the average number of pigs per breeding animal is largely due to the increase in the number of litters per sow per year. This increase in productivity has continued to be a factor in the breeding herd stability since 2000. Additionally, the increase in pigs per breeding animal for operations with less than 5,000 head is largely attributed to the decrease of less efficient operations of fewer than 1,000 head and an increase in the amount of operations with 1,000 to 4,999 head. Feeder pig imports have become more of a factor in the structure of the U.S. breeding herd. The U.S. imported 5.3 million Canadian feeder pigs from December 2004 - November 2005, down 6 percent from the same period a year earlier but up 11 percent from two years ago. These imports account for approximately 16 percent of Canadas annual pig crop. These feeders, if domestically produced, would require approximately 5 percent more U.S. breeding inventory annually.