DairyCo

UK Cow Numbers

Published 15 December 09

Cow Numbers 

• Dairy cow numbers continue to fall, falling by 52,000 in the last year.
• In the UK there are now 1.86 million dairy cows in the dairy herd.
• The number of cows in the dairy herd has fallen 7.1% in the last five years.

Defra figures for June 2009 show that the number of dairy cows in the UK herd has fallen by 52,000 (2.7%) when compared to last year. There are now 1.86 million dairy cows in the UK dairy herd, a fall of 7.1% (141,000 dairy cows) in the last five years.

The number of female cattle aged over 24 months but that have not calved has also fallen by 4.5% in the last year to 401,000, suggesting that the number of cattle available to enter the herd in the short-term has also fallen. Despite the number of female dairy cattle aged between 12 and 24 months increasing by 10,000 (2.1%) since June 2008, it will be several years before these cattle will impact on milk production volumes and the number coming through still remains 7.2% (38,000) lower than five years ago.   

Despite the average yield of dairy cattle increasing by 16 litres per cow per annum between 2007/08 and 2008/09 the falling cow numbers along with other external factors has seen UK milk production at a record low of 12.9 billion litres in 2008/09, a fall of 8.6% compared to five years previously. For more information on average milk yields click here.

Note: all data is obtained from Defra and since June 2005 the method of collection uses the Cattle Tracing System (CTS) for England and Wales, the equivalent APHIS system in Northern Ireland and survey data from Scotland. This has meant that figures and categories vary significantly from those listed before. At present the only figures available from the new system are for June 2005 to 2009.

Sources: DEFRA