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GB dairy population: 2025 figures mark the lowest on record
Thursday, 8 January 2026
The GB milking herd totalled 1.63 million head as of October 2025, the lowest October number recorded, and a 0.9% decline compared to the same month the previous year.
The GB herd total stood at 2.51 million head, a year-on-year decline of 1.3%. A fall was seen across all age groups with the exceptions of the 4–6 years and 6–8 years age groups.
The average age of a cow in the GB milking herd now stands at 4.56 years, very slightly older than last year’s figures. 
Looking into the different age categories, there was mixed performance across the board. Heifers aged 2–4 years recorded the largest decline of 28,000 head, followed by those in the under 2-years category, having seen a decrease of 19,000 head.
This downward trend in the under 2-years category has been seen since October 2022.
However, the 4–6 years category saw an increase by 18,000 head compared to previous year. This was mainly driven the calves born from the youngstock boom of 2021, now ageing up.
Older age groups saw only very marginal changes. Those aged 6–8 years saw a small increase of almost 1,000 head, year-on-year. Those over 8 years declined by 6,000 head.
Despite an overall loss of 0.9% to the milking herd, the record breaking GB milk deliveries denote a move towards greater productivity as the record milk volumes are a result of higher yields per cow.
With milk prices now falling and commodity prices under pressure, farmers are likely to remove older and underperforming cows over the coming months and take advantage of strong cull cow prices.
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