The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is contacting producers for the December Hogs and Pigs Survey. This end-of-year survey is the most comprehensive gathering of quarterly data on market hog and breeding stock inventories as well as pig crop and farrowing intentions in every state. 

“According to the most recent Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report in September, there were 73.8 million hogs and pigs in the United States,” said Doug Bounds, Kansas State Statistician. “The December survey and resulting report will continue to provide important indicators for the industry of what changes are occurring – if any.” 

NASS will mail the questionnaires to all producers selected for the survey in late November. To ensure all survey participants have an opportunity to respond, NASS interviewers will contact producers who do not respond by mail or online to conduct telephone and personal interviews. 

The data gathered in this survey allow NASS to accurately measure and report conditions and trends in the U.S. pork industry over the course of the year. The information is used by all sectors of the industry, including producers themselves, to help make sound and timely business decisions.