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USDA Estimates Number of U.S. Swine Operations, Farms

The number of U.S. operations with hogs in 2011 totaled 69,100, unchanged from 2010. Operations with 2,000 or more head accounted for 87 percent of the inventory, according to a USDA annual report on Farms, Land in Farms and Livestock Operations. A hog and pig operation is any place having one or more hog or pig on hand on Dec. 31.

Those operations with 2,000 or more swine totaled 8,800. Operations with 1,000 to 1,999 animals totaled 3,400.

The number of farms in the United States in 2011 at 2.2 million, was down slightly from 2010. Total land in farms, at 917 million acres, decreased 1.85 million acres from 2010. The average farm size is 420 acres, up 1 acre from the previous year.

The number of operations with cattle totaled 922,000 for 2011, down 1 percent from 2010. Beef cow operations in 2011, at 734,000, were also down 1 percent from last year. The number of milk cow operations for 2011 was down 4 percent from 2010.

While total U.S. farm acreage declined slightly, bigger operations have expanded their acreage. Land operated by farms with $500,000 or more in sales increased 2.5 percent, to 305.7 million acres. Land operated by farms in both $1,000-$9,999 and $100,000-$249,999 sales classes decreased by 3.5 percent.

Read the full report from USDA - http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1259.

Source:
Pork Network, March 5, 2012
By Rick Jordahl, Associate Editor