Numbers of pigs in the Netherlands up – farm numbers down
The number of pigs in the Netherlands has grown in the last year, although the number of pig farms has come down.
On average, Dutch pig farms keep over 1,900 pigs – 200 more than one year ago, the Dutch statistical agency CBS revealed.
It’s the seventh year-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.
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