With hog slaughter up this year, there is an excess of pork on the market that will affect prices, especially going into the Thanksgiving holiday when retailers will start to feature turkey. Managing the Pork Supply The table above shows a huge increase in the feeder pig receipts for last week at 126,239 head, which is the highest level by more than 6,500 head since the week ending 11 December 2015.This puts total receipts up more than 4.9 percent this year with slaughter and pork production up 1.4 percent and just 0.8 percent, respectively, to date. For the most part, slaughter weights have been held in check despite cheaper feed prices, and dressed weights have averaged about one pound less this year. Last week’s average slaughter weigh...

TAGS – Livestock, North America