Slaughter rates for the week ending May 2 were estimated down more than 40% for hogs, according to statistics released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and noted by Iowa State University Extension livestock economist Lee Schulz during a webinar on May 1.

Given this level of processing loss, he estimated nationally about 200,000 slaughter-ready hogs a day aren’t able to go to market. At these levels, almost 1.5 million hogs a week could be backed up, he said.

“We have fixed infrastructure at the farm and at the...