US pig meat production up in December 2011

U.S. pig meat production totaled 2.07 billion pounds in December 2011, up 1 percent from the same time in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's latest report.
Hog slaughter in December 2011 totaled 9.94 million head, up slightly from December 2010. The average live weight was up one pound from 2010, at 278 pounds. Numbers slaughtered in Iowa, the top state in December 2011, were up from 2.659 million head in December 2010 to 2.675 million head in December 2011. While numbers were down in the second-highest state, North Carolina (952,000 head in December 2011 compared to 1.01 million head in December 2010), they were up significantly in both Illinois (946,200 head compared to 832,500) and Minnesota (940,900 head compared to 926,300). Overall, 106.6 million head of hogs slaughtered in 2011 were barrows and gilts, 3.03 million head were sows and 329,000 head were boars — roughly 110 million total hogs.