Number of livestock in spring of 2022

Number of cattle and pig decreased, while poultry numbers increased.

• On 1 April 2022, there were about 1.06 million pigs on 800 farms. The number of pigs decreased by 4% and the number of farms by 8% compared to the previous year. 
• There were 75 300 sows, eight per cent fewer than in the previous year.
• On 1 April 2022, there were around 14.4 million poultry on 475 farms.
• There were just under 3.9 million laying hens, 8.9 million broilers, 597 700 broiler hens and 282 700 turkeys.
• Overall, there were 12.7 million places for broilers (185 farms), 4.4 million for laying hens (292 farms), 734 700 for broiler hens (32 farms) and 368 400 for turkeys (37 farms). 
• At the beginning of May 2022, there were around 834 000 cattle (- 1%). There were more suckler cows, bulls and heifers than in the previous year, while there were fewer dairy cows and cattle under one year old.
• There were 248 000 dairy cows (- 2%) and just over 65 000 suckler cows (+ 2%).
• At the beginning of May 2022, there were 132 100 sheep on around 1 200 farms.