Shrinkage of XNUMX dairy cows in Germany

Just like in the Netherlands, many German dairy farmers are also giving up. The May census shows that in the 12 months before that, almost 3.000 entrepreneurs had stopped. The dairy herd is also declining, by XNUMX cows.

In May, Germany had 61.087 dairy farms, according to figures from the statistics agency Destatis. Compared to the count a year ago, this is a decrease of 4,5%. In exact numbers, that comes down to 2.898 stoppers.

The number of German dairy farms has been declining for years. In 2015, for example, there were still more than 73.000 dairy farms. The downward trend is expected to continue, as a result of an aging population and further increases in scale. 

Further shrinkage in dairy cows 
The dairy herd is also becoming smaller and smaller. In May there were 4.067 million dairy cows registered. This means a shrinkage of one hundred thousand cows (or -2,4%) in a year's time. Compared to the penultimate count in November, the dairy herd has shrunk by almost 35.000 cows. Then the dairy herd already touched the lowest point in 10 year time.

Including beef and young stock, Germany had 11,7 million cattle in May. Compared to a year earlier, this is a decrease of 2,7%. The shrinkage of the cattle herd is not an isolated incident, because the German pig herd is dwindling. 

Wouter Job

Wouter Baan is editor-in-chief of Boerenbusiness. He also focuses on dairy, pig and meat markets. He also follows (business) developments within agribusiness and interviews CEOs and policymakers.

w.baan@boerenbusiness. Nl

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