9 percent fewer cows and 23 percent fewer companies in seven years in the Netherlands

Since 2017, the number of dairy cows in the Netherlands has fallen by nine percent to 1.54 million. The number of young cattle fell even faster by 19 percent to 0.97 million. This is evident from the latest data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS). CBS uses 2017 as a reference year, because that is the year in which the phosphate reduction plan came into effect. According to CBS, the Netherlands still has 13,900 dairy farms. That is 2.6 percent fewer than last year. The number of farms has fallen by 23 percent since 2017. Largest decline in Limburg There are significant differences at provincial level. In Limburg, the number of dairy cattle fell the fastest by 22.1 percent, the number of young cattle even fell by 30.7 percent. The growth of the remaining farms seems to have stopped for the time being. In 2023, an average farm had 110 cows, ...