In Denmark, fewer and fewer cattle are being raised. According to the Danish agricultural and food industry association (L&F), there were just over 1.50 million head of cattle at the end of June. Compared to last year, the herd has "only" decreased by 13,500 animals (0.9%).
This downward trend has continued for decades, resulting in the Danish cattle herd being at its lowest level since 1973, the year the country joined the European Union.
According to the latest figures, the total number of pigs has increased by 0.1%. However, growth in the breeding herd was offset by a 2% decrease in the number of slaughter pigs over 50 kg.
The decline among bulls and oxen was the greatest at 4.8% to 226,500 animals. The total number of cows decreased by 0.9% to 646,700 head. This was mainly due to a 4.4% decrease in the number of suckler cows to 82,000; on the other hand, the dairy herd was reduced by 2,400 animals (0.4%) to 564,700 animals.
A slight increase of 0.7% to 630,000 head was recorded for heifers. This was mainly due to a higher number of young heifers under 1 year old, while older animals were fewer than in the previous year. Among the separately reported pregnant heifers, a year-on-year decrease of 1.9% to 180,200 animals was recorded.
According to L&F, cattle slaughtering in Denmark has already increased by 3.2% this year to 253,560 head. This was due to a substantial increase (13.5%) to 41,530 heifers and a rise in the number of cows slaughtered by 5.3% to 94,020 head. In contrast, the number of bulls and oxen slaughtered decreased by 1.4% to 118,020 head.