Cattle and sheep numbers across farms in the North Highlands by age and gender: EIR release

Information requested

Cattle and sheep numbers across farms in the North Highlands (Caithness, Sutherland, Wester Ross) by age and gender.

Response

We have provided the information you have requested in the tables below. Table 1 provides sheep numbers in the North Highlands. Table 2 provides cattle numbers in the North Highlands. At the end of your email you enquired about further regional data on farms and farmers. While we collect data at holding level, this data is treated as personal and disclosive data, therefore we do not provide information on individual farms or any aggregated data which could pose a disclosure risk. We have a number of regional breakdowns from 2021, which can be sourced from https://www.gov.scot/publications/results-scottish-agricultural-census-june-2021/documents/. If you require additional data that’s not published here, please request this by emailing the Agriculture Analysis unit at agric.stats@gov.scot.

Please find on the following page the tables you require.

Table 1 - Sheep numbers in the North Highlands

Source: Sheep and Goat Inventory December 2021

Sheep Categories	Caithness	Sutherland	Ross & Cromarty	North Highlands
Sheep 1 year old and over - ewes for breeding	72,472	55,795	51,185	179,452
Other sheep 1 year old and over - for breeding	7,977	7,857	7,436	23,270
Sheep under 1 year old - lambs put to ram	1,645	1,036	2,599	5,280
Sheep under 1 year old - lambs not put to ram	42,555	24,405	31,017	97,977
Total Sheep	124,649	89,093	92,237	305,979

Table 2 - Cattle numbers in the North Highlands

Source: Cattle Tracking Scheme December 2021

Cattle Categories	Caithness	Sutherland	Ross & Cromarty	North Highlands
Female beef cattle under 1	7,358	1,246	3,485	12,089
Female dairy cattle under 1	7	12	28	47
Female beef cattle aged 1-2	4,596	716	2,066	7,378
Female dairy cattle aged 1-2	32	5	7	44
Female beef cattle with offspring aged 2 and over	15,002	3,325	7,758	26,085
Female dairy cattle with offspring aged 2 and over	164	110	139	413
Female beef cattle without offspring aged 2 and over	1,852	500	1,047	3,399
Female dairy cattle without offspring aged 2 and over	45	7	13	65
Male cattle under 1	7,444	1,276	3,531	12,251
Male cattle aged 1-2	2,951	178	1,830	4,959
Male cattle aged 2 and over	971	196	576	1,743
Total Cattle	40,422	7,571	20,480	68,473

Statistics prepared by Scottish Government RESAS Statistics(Agriculture)

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