The U.S. hog-breeding herd on Sept. 1 was 0.6 percent bigger than a year earlier and more than analysts forecast as profitability prospects encouraged producers to expand.
About 5.806 million sows were being held back for breeding as the month began, up from 5.77 million on Sept. 1, 2010, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a quarterly report. Nine analysts in a Bloomberg News survey forecast a 0.1 percent increase, on average. The breeding herd was little changed from 5.803 million at the end of the previous quarter.
Hog futures may open 0.5 cent to 1 cent a pound lower tomorrow, depending on economic news, because of the jump in the sow herd and an increase in pigs per litter, said Doug Harper, an analyst at Brock Associates in Milwaukee. Sows averaged a record 10.03 pigs per litter during the three months ended Aug. 31, up from 9.81 in the same period a year earlier, the USDA said.
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