Pig farming in the U.S.
In hog and pig farming in the U.S., the animals are allowed to roam freely, raised in a homestead or bred within intensive commercial units in an industrial farm system. The number of hogs and pigs kept for breeding in the U.S. amounted to above six millions and about 125 million hogs are slaughtered annually in the United States.As of March 2021, Iowa had an inventory of about 23 million hogs and pigs, making it the top producer of swine in the country by a large margin. In that same year, the second largest producer of hogs and pigs was Minnesota, with about 8.6 million head. The state of Iowa is by far the leading producer of hogs in the United States with a live weight production of hogs of approximately 11 billion pounds. Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) in the U.S., using hogs and pigs, has continued to generate a lot of concerns public health and waste management concerns as well as elicit very strong criticisms from animal welfare activists.