Fewer dairy cows, pigs, veal calves, and sheep in the Netherlands

The number of sheep in the Netherlands will amount to 732,000 this year. The bluetongue virus, which has mainly affected sheep since September 2023, is the cause of this. The decrease in the number of sheep was the largest in the province of Utrecht, with a minus of more than 27 percent. North Holland (-21 percent) and Flevoland (-20 percent) follow. The decrease in the number of dairy goats amounts to 3 percent, resulting in a total livestock population of almost 475,000 animals. Compared to seven years ago, the goat population has grown by 26 percent. More than half of these animals are housed in North Brabant (137,000) and Gelderland (118,000). In the province of North Brabant, the number of dairy goats has increased by more than 4 percent this year, in Gelderland it was an increase of 1 percent. Compared to 2017, these provinces have seen an increase of 17 percent (North Brabant) and 32 percent (Gelderland) respectively. Almost 2 percent fewer cows The figures from Statistics ...