September 26, 2011

Pig numbers in Netherlands show increase

The pig herd in the Netherlands has increased, but the number of pig farms has decreased.

On average, Dutch pig farms keep over 1,900 pigs - 200 more than one year ago, the Dutch statistical agency CBS revealed.

It is the seventh on-year increase in a row. On April 1, there were 12.4 million pigs at 6,500 pig farms. This is a 1% increase in pigs, and a 7% decrease of pig farms.

The number of piglets rose by 3% to 5.3 million - this number has not been at this level since 2001. Numbers of finisher pigs did not change (5.9 million), but the number of farms keeping finishers went down rapidly by 8%. Manure legislation is mainly to blame for this as smaller farms tend to shut op shop.

Numbers of gestating sows were 1% below the 2010 average, at approximately 750,000.