The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is enhancing the pork cutout used in USDA Market News reports by placing additional product into the ham primal. By adding the individual muscles (insides, outsides, and knuckles) to the ham primal, the pork cutout will provide a stronger and more reflective ham primal value, thus enhancing the overall cutout value. The changes reflect AMS’ commitment to industry by providing data that accurately depicts the evolving needs of the commodities and industries we serve. This change will be effective Sept. 12, 2016.
AMS has provided voluntary pork carcass cutout values and primal style values for several decades now. Prior to 1998, only the pork carcass cutout was calculated, reported, and quoted as US #1, #2, #3, and #4, without any primal or sub-primal values being calculated. Additionally, only bone-in hams were used in the calculations. However, industry has gradually moved to producing more boneless hams versus bone-in hams on an annual basis. As such, the pork carcass cutout calculations and values were changed in 1998 to reflect the model and methodology currently being used outside of yield updates, which includes primal and sub-primal calculations and values. Since 1998 and prior to Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR), pork companies primarily reported voluntary prices for boneless hams as either 3-piece, 4-piece, or 5-piece, even though there were sub-primal lines for the individual ham muscles on the report.
After analyzing data since introducing pork into LMR in 2013, it has been noted that most of the tonnage of boneless hams is broken out into the individual muscles and is invoiced this way. These changes will incorporate this unused tonnage into the ham primal calculation, which is part of the pork carcass cutout calculation. The methodology for calculating the primal styles and cutout will remain the same. For an overview of the current pork carcass cutout, visit: USDA Estimated Composite Pork Carcass Cutout – An Overview.
For an additional analysis on the updated ham primal cutout, including a table showing the calculations for the addition of the insides, outsides, and knuckles into the ham primal, visit Updated Ham Primal Cutout Analysis (pdf).
AMS will hold an informative webinar on Aug. 24, 2016, to discuss these changes. Please call the following number at 11:00 a.m. Central time: (888) 844-9904; Access Code: 1665233.
If you have any questions, contact Mike Lynch, Livestock, Poultry, and Grain Market News Director, at (202) 720-4846; or Taylor Cox, Field Chief, at (515) 284-4460.