News Livestock
Fewer cows and stable number of pigs in Germany
The German pig population has remained more or less stable after years of decline. However, the number of pig farms continues to decrease. Meanwhile, the dairy cattle population is decreasing slightly, while the number of dairy farmers is declining more rapidly.
In total, the number of pigs in Germany decreased by only 1,200 animals in May, according to data from the German statistical office Destatis. In previous years, the pig population took significant steps backwards. The number of pigs for meat production decreased by 3.2% or 308,100 to 9.4 million. The number of piglets was 6.3 million, and the country had a total of around 3.8 million young pigs for meat production. Compared to May 2022, the number of pigs decreased by 6.2% or 1.4 million.
However, the number of pig farmers continues to decline consistently. In May, Germany had 15,700 pig farms, a decrease of 600 or 3.4%. In May 2022, the country had 17,900 pig farms. The number of enterprises decreased by 12.34% or 2,200 companies.
Dairy cattle population decreases
Meanwhile, the dairy cattle population decreased slightly more. The total number of dairy cows decreased from 4,337,720 to 4,296,683, a decrease of 1.2%. Similar to the pig market, the number of dairy farms is decreasing more rapidly than the dairy cattle population. In May 2023, Germany had 50,870 dairy farms. This year, the number of enterprises decreased to 49,452, a decrease of 2.2%.
