Animal numbers in Austria are declining

According to data from Statistics Austria, a total of 2.57 million pigs were kept in the Alpine country on June 1st; That was 60,520 animals or 2.3% fewer than twelve months earlier. However, the decline in inventories was much smaller than in other EU countries; In Germany, for example, a decrease of 6.2% was recorded, and in Denmark it was lower by 9.6%. However, Austria’s pig herd has fallen to its lowest level this millennium.

According to the statisticians from Vienna, the number of animals in all categories was lower than in June 2022. The number of pigs decreased by 1.7% to 617,640, and the number of pigs weighing up to 50 kg decreased by 2.6% to 718,730. The number of pigs allocated for fattening also decreased by 2.3%, reaching 1.02 million pigs. In relative terms, the number of breeding pigs decreased significantly, that is, by 7140 heads, or 3.3%, to 212,020 pigs. It is therefore unlikely that an increase in pig production in Austria compared to the previous year will occur in the near future.

Negative trend in cattle

According to the Livestock Census, the decline in livestock farming has been relatively moderate. The entire herd comprised approximately 1.83 million animals in June 2023; That was 16,420 units or 0.9% less than last year. However, this continued the negative trend that had existed for years; The cattle herd has fallen to its lowest level in more than 30 years. Part of the reason for the recent decrease in the number of cattle was young cattle less than one year old, which decreased by 3.1% to 573,720 head of cattle.

On the other hand, the number of animals in the age group from one to two years increased by 0.9% to reach 425,720 animals, while the number of animals over 24 months old decreased by 0.2% to reach 826,320 animals. The latter group also includes dairy cows, whose herd decreased by 3,100, or 0.6%, to 546,040 in a year. The number of cattle breeders in Austria also declined again; Compared to June 2022, it decreased by 2.9% to 52,030 companies. On average they had 35 animals on the farm.