Livestock numbers are falling in Germany

The pig population increased slightly by 0.3% from the previous year to 21.2 million, but was down 25.2% from 2014. The increase was due to the higher number of pigs on farm, which increased from 1,100 in 2014 to 1,400 in 2024 .

In contrast, the cattle herd has been steadily declining, down 3.5% from the previous year and 17.9% since 2014, to 10.5 million. The dairy cow herd has also fallen by 3.8% since November 2023, to a total of 48,600.

In addition, the sheep population decreased by 3.4% compared to the previous year and amounted to 1.5 million heads, which is 5.9% less than in 2014.