Farm Outlook

Hog marketings increased seasonally during the late summer and early fall and were also above the level indicated by the USDA's spring pig crop estimate. Federally inspected slaughter during August and September was about 10 percent above a year earlier. An increase of only 2 to 4 percent had been indicated by farrowing and hog inventory estimates in the June pig crop report. As a result of the larger marketings, early October hog prices were more than $4 per cwt. below early July and $3.50 lower than a year earlier.