Points about Pigs

In December of 1995, there were 1,850,000 hogs in the state of Ohio! These hogs provide pork, sausage, and bacon for a lot of people here in Ohio and all over the world! What trends can you find in the hog industry?


Study the table below and then answer the following questions.

Estimates of Number of Hogs and Pigs in eight Central Ohio Counties, 1994-1995

CountyAshlandCoshoctonDelawareHolmesKnoxLickingMorrowRichland
Year 199421,00023,00021,00043,00033,00018,00019,00025,000
Year 199521,50024,500022,00046,00032,00018,00020,00025,000
  1. Rank the counties in order of decreasing hog numbers first for 1994 and then for 1995. Which county has the most hogs? Which has the least? How does the order change from 1994 to 1995?
  2. Which county shows a decrease in number of hogs between 1994 and 1995?
  3. Which two counties show no change?

The following table shows the change in number of farms (or operations) raising hogs in Ohio between 1994 and 1995. These farms are not all family farms. A group of people may raise pigs as a business, but they may not be a family.

The table also shows what percentage of the state's total hog inventory each size group has. For example, 13% of the hog operations in Ohio in 1995 had between one and ninety-nine hogs.

Make a bar graph with the information from the following table that shows the change in the number of farms for each size group over the two years. Hint: You will need to have two bars for each size group. Put the year on the horizontal axis with the size group and put the number of operations on the vertical. Don't forget to label your graph! You do not need to include the "% of all operations" in this graph. We will use this information later. After you have made your graph answer the questions about trends in the hog industry.

Number of Hog Operations and Size of Operations in Ohio, 1994-1995

Farm size(in # of hogs)1-99 Hogs100-499 Hogs500-999Hogs1000-1,999Hogs2,000+ Hogs
___________________1994199519941995199419951994199519941995
Operations8,8008,6003,1002,8007306003202505050
% of all operations1313363322212022911
Ohio Department of Agriculture Annual Report, 1995

  1. What conclusion can you draw about the overall trend in the hog industry? Are the number of farms raising hogs increasing or decreasing?
  2. Can you think of a reason to explain this trend?
  3. What farm size group is the most common in Ohio?
  4. The total number of hogs in Ohio increased by 3% from 1994 to 1995. Some farms are raising more hogs than last year. Look again at the table. Do any of the farm size groups show an increase in the percentage of Ohio's hogs they own? Which size groups own a smaller percentage in 1995 than 1994? What does this tell you about hog farms: are they getting larger or smaller?

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