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GB milking herd drops back, whilst youngstock shows signs of growth
Wednesday, 3 March 2021
By Charlie Reeve
The latest data from BCMS shows the GB milking herd shrinking during the last quarter of 2020, in line with long term industry trends.
As at 1 Jan, there were 1.676 million dairy cows in the GB milking herd. This is a 2.4% reduction compared to the same point last year, the equivalent of 41,300 cows. The largest annual decreases were for dairy females aged 48 -54 months which fell 7% (-12,600) head year-on-year. Dairy females aged over 4 years declined by 2.7% (-25,600 head) year-on-year.
Whilst there has been a reduction in the breeding herd, youngstock have actually increased in numbers. As at 1 Jan the number of youngstock (under two years) totalled 887,900 head, up 3.1% (+26,300 head) on the same month last year. Every age category from 0 – 2 years has had a year-on-year increase in the number of cattle.
The increase in youngstock does not fully offset the overall reduction in the older milking herd. However, unless we see an increase in cullings for older animals, the rise in youngstock numbers will start to bring stability to the overall milking herd in the coming years.
According to the BCMS data, dairy females (under 12 months) are increasing in numbers year-on-year, whereas dairy males in the same age range are actually declining in numbers slightly. This is due to increased use of sexed semen throughout the dairy industry.
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