n the June hogs and pigs survey, pork producers told USDA they had increased the size of the breeding herd by one percent relative to year-ago levels. The breeding herd began to increase in the fall of 2014 after producers had record profitability due to reduced production due to the PED virus. Basically, the industry has been in a slow expansion since that time. Declining feed prices were also a stimulus to expansion until this spring when feed prices began to rise once more.
The latest inventory report also found somewhat more young pigs than had been expected. The spring pig crop was 2.5 percent larger as a result of 1.5 percent more farrowings and one percent more pigs per litter. This means a bit higher pork supplies later this year than had been anticipated. Several states had a large increase in their breeding herd numbers over the last year. These included Illinois, with an increase of 40,000 animals, Oklahoma, up 30,000, and South Dakota, up 20,000.