Number of livestock in spring of 2023

The number of cattle, pigs and sheep fell last year. There were more hens than in the previous year, over 60% of which were kept in barn hen houses.

• In May 2023, there were around 820 700 cattle, which is 2% less than the previous year. There were 7 750 cattle on 7 750 farms.
• The number of dairy cows fell by 2% to 242 000 head.  The average number of dairy cows per farm was 52.
• The number of suckler cows fell slightly to around 64 700 head. 
• On 1 April 2023, there were around 988 000 pigs on just under 700 farms. The number of pigs decreased by 7% and the number of farms by 13% compared to the previous year. There were around 70 000 sows (- 7%). 
• The number of sheep decreased by 8% year-on-year to 122 000 head in spring 2023. There were 63 500 ewes (-7%).
• In April 2023, there were just under 4 million laying hens. In total, there were 4.5 million laying hens on just under 260 farms. Over 65% of the hens were in barn hen houses. 
• The number of broiler places rose to 13.4 million. Broilers were reared on about 180 farms. 
• Turkeys were reared on 34 farms, with a total of around 379 000 places.