The following graph illustrates the UK pig breeding herd between June 1981 and June 2005. It shows clearly the sharp fall since December 1997, the herd having reduced by over a third during that period.

The increase between December 2000 and June 2001 is thought to be due to sows being retained for breeding due to movement restrictions and the lack of an export market for cull sows as a result of the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak. There was little change in the national sow herd in 2004, in contrast to the declines of previous years.

The provisional June 2005 census results show a decline of 9% in the breeding herd, at 468 thousand head, compared to the June 2004 results. Pigs for slaughtering also fell (-5.7%) to 4,293 thousand head, with a decline in the lighter weight pigs but an increase in the number of pigs weighing 110 kg and over (+15.5%).

EU pig populations

There is only one common period for pig population surveys across the EU – November/December. However, the main pig producing Member States must survey their pig populations at least twice each year, with no more than six months between survey dates. The latest results are shown in the tables below.

The Eurostat definition of breeding sows includes sows and gilts in pig, other sows for breeding and intended gilts. EU Member States were showing little change in the number of breeding sows at their latest surveys.

The following chart shows the proportion of total pigs in each Member State as at November/December 2004, the latest date for which figures for all EU 15 states are available.

Pig Populations in Candidate Countries

As part of the process of applying for membership of the EU the candidate countries had to work on bringing their systems for monitoring the agricultural industry into line with EU requirements. For some countries this involved the collection of new, or improved, statistical information. As a result of this there may have been significant changes to the methodologies used in each country over time. However, the following table shows the estimated total number of pigs in the candidate countries at December of each year from 1992 onwards.

Some of the candidate countries have not yet been able to provide figures for December 2004 (e.g. Romania) – but there were over 29 million pigs in total across the countries that have supplied figures (over half of which are in Poland), compared with 123 million pigs in the EU- 15 Member countries. In comparison with the EU-15 member countries, only Spain and Germany had larger pig populations than Poland at December 2004.

UK/EU Pig Statistics

For information on UK and EU Pig Statistics which form Chapters 1-4 of this report
Click Here

Further Information

To read the full report, including tables (PDF - 23 pages, 318Kb) Click here
This article is taken from Chapter 5. towards the end of the PDF.

Source: Defra - January 2006