Hog and Pig Farming

The US hog and pig farming industry includes about 65,000 farms with combined annual revenue of $14 billion. Major companies include Smithfield Foods, Tyson Foods, and JBS Swift. The industry is highly concentrated: over 90 percent of industry revenue is generated by just 10 percent of farms. Smithfield Foods and Tyson Foods farm and process nearly half of the pork consumed in the US.

Hog farming involves six stages: breeding; gestation; birthing (known in the industry as farrowing); weaning; nursery; and grow finishing, where the hog reaches its ideal weight. While many large companies are often vertically integrated and ready the animal for consumption, this industry doesn't include slaughter.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is driven primarily by domestic and international trends in pork consumption. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient operations and reducing the spread of disease. Large companies have advantages in vertically integrating operations from birthing to packaging and distribution. Small operations, typically family-owned farms, can compete effectively by specializing in a single stage of hog farming or raising humanely treated animals. The industry is labor-intensive: average annual revenue per worker is $175,000.

PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Major services include farrow-to-finish (45 percent of farms); growing pigs and hogs to finishing (25 percent); wean-to-finish (10 percent); and breeding (10 percent). Other services include farrow-to-wean and nursery operations.

The total US inventory of hogs and pigs (immature hogs weighing less than 125 pounds) is around 60 ...