Defra’s December livestock census for England reveals vital progress of each the general pig herd and the breeding herd.
The general herd was up by 8.7% on December 2023 to three.6 million head, which equates to 300,000 extra pigs on England’s farms on the finish of 2024 than a yr earlier. The rise took general herd dimension nearer to the 2022 determine of three.7m head, nevertheless it stays properly beneath the December 2021 determine of almost 4.1m head.
The rise was pushed by pushed by an 8.5% rise within the variety of fattening pigs, which account for 91% of all pigs, to shut to three.3m head. There was no change in small piglet numbers, however there was an eye catching 26% leap in weaner numbers (as much as 29kg) to 958,000 head. Fattening pigs over 29kg had been up by 3.2% yr on yr to almost 1.9m head.
The additional pigs on farm ties in with separate Defra 2024 manufacturing figures. Improved on-farm productiveness drove clear pig slaughter numbers up by 2.8% yr on yr to 10.33m head in 2024, regardless of an additional contraction of the breeding herd, as proven within the June 2024 census.
The expansion notably pronounced within the second half of the yr – Q3 and This autumn had been each considerably forward of 2023 ranges. In December, for instance, slaugherings had been 10% increased than a yr earlier.
Breeding herd progress
Much more vital is the 8.1% enhance within the English feminine breeding herd to 258,000 in December 2024, equating to 19,000 extra sows.
This enhance was pushed by a 13% rise within the variety of sows in pig to 198,000 head and a 1.2% rise in ‘different sows’, together with suckling and dry sows, to 39,000 head, which greater than offset a 16% fall in gilts in pig to beneath 21,000 head, in contrast with December 2023.
Maybe most encouraging by way of future herd progress prospects, the variety of gilts not but in pig was up by 22% to greater than 66,000 head. The variety of boars in service was up 5.3% to eight,400 head.
Comparability with the June census is tough and will be deceptive – the December figures are usually markedly decrease than the June knowledge.
On this case, the general pig herd is simply 1.9% beneath the June determine (the December-June 2023 distinction was 8%), and the December 2024 breeding herd was truly 2.6% above the June 2024 determine, the primary time this has occurred since December 2008.
This knowledge is for England solely, so just isn’t resprentative of the UK, and there may be at all times margin for error within the pig datasets, given the various nature of pig possession.
However, at face worth, they look like an early indicator that the sector is trying to develop once more, albeit it’s unclear how a lot of it this at present coming from the company sector, versus the impartial producers.
