March 17, 2022

UK dairy herd continues to decline

Data from the British Cattle Movement Service has found that the UK's dairy herd totalled 1.64 million head as of January 1 this year, a 2.0% drop or 34,000 less compared to January 1 last year, the UK Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board reported.

The decline continues the country's long-term falling off trend of the national herd seen over the past two years.

Numbers of cattle youngstock (under two years) have been going up over the past two years. The current total youngstock is at 933,000 head, 5.1% up or 45,000 higher compared to January 1, 2021.

Total youngstock have increased since early 2020, so they are expected to start aging into the main herd in 2022. But a rise in production costs could see farmers unlikely to expand herd sizes.

The board projects less productive cattle cleared to make space going forward.

-      UK Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board