Sharp decline in the UK pig breeding herd

As producers in the pig industry continue to be severely challenged, it is unsurprising that the latest release of the UK livestock population at 1 June shows the total pig population has fallen 2.5% in 12 months, to 5.19 million head.

The overall breeding herd has contracted 15.2%, driven by a loss of 56,000 sows (-14%) in the female breeding herd which stands at 342,800 head. The number of sows and gilts in pig declined by 11.7% and 22.4% respectively, with the number of gilts intended for first time breeding down 21.3%. These sharp drop offs in numbers demonstrate the impact of the tough conditions, with producers leaving the industry or contracting their herds in response to continued negative farm margins.

The number of fattening pigs has seen a decline of 54,000 head (-1.1%) to 4.77 million head.

Livestock numbers in the UK sourced from the Defra June census of agriculture and horticulture. As the results are based on sample surveys, they are subject to a degree of sampling error and do not take into account other sources of survey errors, such as non-response bias or administrative data errors. 

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