The latest figures published by USDA indicate a slowdown in the number of piglets being affected by the PEDv outbreak, according to BPEX.
Although the US figures to September 1, show pig numbers down 2% on the year at 65.4m head, the third quarter total is 6% up on the previous three months.
In addition, while total piglet numbers were down by 2% compared with September 2013, this is better than the piglet counts in both the quarters ending March and June this year, when the year-on-year decline was 8% and 6% respectively.
“Going forward,” said BPEX, “producers in the US intend to farrow 2.89m sows in the period September to November, up 4% from actual farrowings during the same period in 2013, with a similar rise anticipated in the following quarter.”
However, what this means for the pig crop from here on, they add, will depend on the extent to which PEDv cases increase again during the coming winter.