December 5, 2024

 

Drop in numbers of dairy cows and pigs in Netherlands this year

 

 

The number of dairy cows in the Netherlands fell by 1.9% to 1.54 million in 2024, compared to 2023, according to the latest agricultural census figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

 

The numbers of pigs and dairy goats have also declined slightly over the past year.

 

On 1 April 2024, there were 3.77 million cattle in the Netherlands, 1.9% fewer than the previous year. A total of 41% were dairy cows. The municipalities of Sûdwest-Fryslân and De Fryske Marren are home to the highest numbers of dairy cows: 65,000 and 34,000, respectively. The number of young stock, meanwhile, rose by 2.5% to 967,000 last year.

 

Compared to 2017, there were 7.8% fewer cattle in 2024, the year when the Netherland's phosphate reduction plan came into force in the Dutch dairy farming sector. Under this plan, farmers have had to reduce the size of their dairy herds, bringing an end to rising numbers of cattle. The cattle population subsequently fell to below four million. After a slight increase a few years later, this decline appears to have resumed in 2024.

 

In 2024, there were 13.9 thousand farms with dairy cattle, 2.6 % fewer than in 2023. That represents a decline of nearly a quarter (23 %) since 2017.

 

The average number of dairy cows per farm, on the other hand, rose to 111. In 2023 the average was 110 cows per farm, and in 2017, it was 94 cows per farm.

 

Last year, the largest farms (each with an average of 157 dairy cows) were located in the province of Flevoland, followed by the northern provinces of Groningen (136 cows on average), Fryslân (129 cows on average) and Drenthe (127 cows on average).

 

The population of veal calves fell by 1.7 % to slightly over one million in 2024, compared to 2023. Compared to 2017, however, the population of veal calves has increased by around 5 %.

 

Almost half of the Netherlands' veal calves (466,000) are located in the province of Gelderland. There, the population of veal calves has grown by 8% in the last five years. The most veal calves are found in the municipalities of Ede (125 thousand) and Barneveld (118 thousand).

 

In 2024, the Netherlands' pig population decreased by 2.6%, year-on-year, to a total of 10.6 million animals. The pig population has seen declines since 2020, partly as a result of a buy-out scheme for livestock farmers and the Subsidy Scheme for the Remediation of Pig Farms (SRV).

 

The number of agricultural holdings that rear pigs fell by 3.5 % compared to 2023, to just under 3,000. Over the past seven years, the average number of pigs per farm has grown by nearly 19%, to 3.4 thousand. This was mainly because more smaller farms have ceased rearing pigs over the last few years.

 

Nearly half of the Netherlands' pig population is located in the province of Noord-Brabant. But the number of farms with pigs in Noord-Brabant has fallen by a third over the last seven years. The decline in the total pig population has been slower, at almost 18%.

 

In 2024, Land van Cuijk (646,000) and Venray (518,000) were the municipalities with the largest pig populations.

 

- CBS.nl Statistics Netherlands