The U.S. hog and pig inventory hasn’t ex­­panded as much as economists and others have feared, economists said last week after the release of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) quarterly hogs and pigs report.

"The worry had been we ex­­panded the herd more," said Chris Hurt, professor of ag economics at Purdue University.

The U.S. inventory of all hogs and pigs on March 1 was 65.9 million head, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in its report last week. This was up 7 percent from March 1, 2014, but down slightly from Dec. 1, 2014. There were 20.4 million head of hogs and pigs in Iowa on March 1, the report said. This was up from March 1, 2014, but down from...