December 1, 2010

Quantity of Dutch pigs rise for the sixth consecutive year

Although the total number of farms in the Netherlands has decreased, the total number of pigs in the country has grown for the sixth year in a row.

Economics of scale is the trend, according to Dutch media.

The Dutch central statistics agency, CBS, counted that there are a total of 12.3 million pigs and it equates to a growth of 1.1 million pigs since 2004. In comparison to last year, there is an increase of 70,000 pigs.

According to Dutch media, the growth of the pig numbers will decline because there are not many legal permits left to be used for expansion. Pierik spoke about a ceiling having been reached.

On average, 1,700 animals are being kept at every Dutch pig farm, which is up 8% from the previous year. The biggest farms can be found in the provinces of Brabant and Limburg in the South, and Drenthe in the North.

The total number of farms has decreased from 7,548 to 7,030. The number of pig breeding farms decreased from 3,127 to 2,951. Nevertheless, the total number of farms having finishers came down at a faster rate, from 6,518 to 5,952. Total number of finishers has increased by about 29,000 pigs.

What stands out in the CBS figures is that the number of very large pigs to Dutch standards (with 5,000 pigs or more) has grown by 20, leading up to a total of 133. The majority of large farms can be found in Brabant where the number of larger farms grew from 58 to 74.