The market was very quiet today in terms of trading with snow and cold temps locking up much of the trade. Winter storms through much of the south has shut plants down, stressed the power grid and frozen trucks and railcars in place. Another round of snow is expected to keep the gridlock in place through at least tomorrow, with more snow expected today and overnight in parts of the US that don’t have fleets of snowplows and stockpiles of salt on the ready.

Hog slaughter was estimated at 2.65 million head last week, down slightly from the week prior and up 2.5 percent from last year. Production is forecast to drop to 2.55 million head…