Canadian Hog Numbers Ease

The number of hogs on Canadian farms eased in 2024, after rising slightly the previous year. The national hog herd as of Jan. 1 2025 was pegged at 13.98 million head in a Statistics Canada livestock inventory report on Tuesday. That is down 0.9% from a year earlier and marks the lowest for the date since 2016 at 13.63 million. On Jan. 1 2024, the number of hogs in Canada was estimated at 13.98 million, up 0.64% on the year. Total breeding stock (over 6 months of age) was estimated at 1.21 million head as of Jan. 1, 2025, down about 1.6% from a year earlier. At 1.2 million head, the number of sows and gilts was 1.6% lower, while boars declined 2.6% year-over-year to 15,200 head. The number of all other hogs as of Jan. 1 came in at 12.64 million, a decline of 0.86% from the previous year. Hog numbers fell most steeply this past year in the No. 1 production province of Quebec, following the implementation of a provincial hog reduction program. Introduced amid a decline in local po