Spatial and temporal changes in the US Hog, dairy, and fed-cattle sectors, 1975-2000

The hog, dairy and fed-cattle sectors have become more geographically concentrated within states across the country. Hog and dairy inventories increased in nontraditional production regions but fed-cattle inventories increased only in the three major producing states. Regions in the northeastern quadrant of the United States tended to experience an attrition pattern of geographical concentration in livestock production. In contrast, an augmentation pattern is evident in the western regions where absolute inventory numbers increased along with geographical concentration. The patterns are most closely associated with changes in regional processing capacity.