Cattle numbers continue to fall

The total number of cattle in Scotland continues to fall – and census figures released this week revealed the number currently standing at a 60-year low.

With the national herd falling to its lowest point since the 1950’s, the results of the June census published this week shows that the majority of the fall took place in the suckler herd – with cow numbers slipping by 2 per cent – from 424,300 to 417,400 – over the course of the year.

Despite the drop, the number of dairy cattle actually rose over the year – up from 174,700 in June 2018 to 175,800 this year, a fact which the country’s chief statistician put down to strong milk prices over the past year meaning dairy cows were more profitable than their beef counterparts.

Sheep numbers recovered from the depressed figures of 2018 which had been knocked by the “Beast from the East” bringing bad weather at lambingtime, combined with a shortage of keep later in the year.

The 2019 census figures showed that there were 3.25 million lambs, an increase of 4 per cent. Breeding ewes remained steadyataround2,568,000.

However the report highlighted the fact that despite the small increase in the size of the Scottish national flock, it still stood well below levels seen before 2005 when farm support payments based on the number of sheep owned stopped.

The number of people estimated to be working in agriculture was also shown to have increased slightly – by approximately one per cent to 67,100.