Economic Report on Scottish Agriculture 2011 Edition

Livestock ( Table C8)

Table C8 presents livestock numbers for each country in the UK and shows that at 1st June 2010 Scotland had 1.83 million cattle, 6.75 million sheep, 409,287 pigs and 14.59 million poultry.

Livestock comparisons with the UK ( Table C8 and chart C8-9)

Chart C8 shows the share each country has of the UK population for each of the main livestock groups. Scotland has a higher UK share of cattle (18%) and sheep (22%) compared to pigs (9%) and poultry (9%). Northern Ireland has a similar share to Scotland for cattle, pigs and poultry but with a much lower share for sheep. Compared to Scotland, Wales has a higher share of sheep and a lower share of other livestock groups with hardly any pigs. England has the highest share of all livestock groups with a profile opposite to Scotland with a larger share of the pig and poultry populations in comparison to cattle and sheep.

Chart C8: Cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry by UK country, June 2010

Chart C9 shows the proportion of different types of cattle within each country. In Scotland, the beef herd (25%) is larger than the dairy herd (10%), whereas in England the profile is opposite with the beef herd (14%) smaller than the dairy herd (21%). In Northern Ireland and Wales the beef and dairy herds are more equal in size.

Chart C9: Cattle by UK country, June 2010

Livestock by LFA/non LFA holdings ( Table C9)

Table C9 shows the balance between livestock on LFA and non LFA holdings in Scotland. It shows that cattle and sheep tend to be located on the LFA holdings with 72% of cattle and 90% of sheep being located on these holdings. In contrast pigs and poultry tend to be located on non LFA holdings (85% and 81% respectively).

Livestock by Distribution of cattle geographical area ( Tables C10i- C10ii)

In 2010 there were 1.83 million cattle in Scotland. The greatest number of cattle were located in Dumfries & Galloway (420,269 cattle or 23% of the total) while 364,331 were in Grampian (20%). Ayrshire (190,078 or 10%), the Clyde Valley (149,311 or 8%) and the Highlands (132,185 or 7%) also have relatively high numbers of cattle.

Distribution of the dairy and beef herds (Chart C10)

Dairy cows totalled 184,683 in June 2010 of which three quarters were located across Dumfries & Galloway (73,272 or 40%), Ayrshire (42,177 or 23%) and the Clyde Valley (24,296 or 13%). By contrast the largest numbers of beef cows, which totalled 456,881, were concentrated in Grampian (92,535 or 20%), Dumfries & Galloway (85,029 or 19%), Highland (50,361 or 11%) and the Scottish Borders (43,702 or 10%).

Chart C10: Distribution of cows by regional grouping, June 2010

Size of dairy and beef herds ( Tables C11- C12 and charts C11-C12)

Chart C11 shows that the majority (57%) of dairy cows were in herd sizes of 150 or more, totalling 105,841. A further 46,240 (25%) were in herd sizes of between 100 and 149, with the remaining 32,602 (18%) in herd sizes less than 100. This illustrates the concentrated distribution of the dairy sector.

In contrast there is a less skewed distribution of beef herd sizes as shown in chart C12. The largest proportion (30%) of beef cows were in a herd size of between 50 and 99 cows, totalling 136,949 cows and a further 127,794 (28%) were in herd sizes of 150 and more. There were also 88,809 (19%) in a herd size of 100 to 149 and 74,951 (16%) in a herd size of 20 to 49. This distribution was fairly similar across the 4 regions.

Chart C11: Dairy cows by region and herd size group, June 2010

Chart C12: Beef cows by region and herd size group, June 2010

Distribution of sheep ( Table C10ii and Chart C13)

There were 6.75 million sheep in Scotland at 1st June 2010. Areas with highest numbers of sheep were the Scottish Borders (1.17 million or 17% of the total), Dumfries and Galloway (1.00 million or 15%), the Highlands (870,553 or 13%), Tayside (626,372 or 9%) and Grampian (604,292 million or 9%).

Chart C13: Distribution of sheep by regional grouping, June 2010

Chart C14: Breeding sheep by size group and region, June 2010

Size of sheep flocks ( Table C14 and Chart 14)

There were 2.64 million breeding ewes in Scotland in June 2010, with the majority (1.49 million or 56%) in flock sizes of 500 or more and 711,178 (27%) in flock sizes of 1,000 or more. These larger flock sizes were mostly located in the South East and South West.

Of the 12,851 holdings with breeding ewes, the majority (7,448 or 58%) had flock sizes of less than 100 breeding ewes. However, these holdings only accounted for 238,016 (9%) of breeding ewes in Scotland. Most of these holdings with smaller flock sizes were located in the North West.

Distribution of pigs ( Table C10ii and Chart C15)

There were 409,287 pigs at 1st June 2010. Over two thirds of these were located in Grampian (278,152 pigs or 68%). Tayside, Lothian, Highland and Scottish Borders each accounted for between 4% and 11% of total pigs in Scotland.

Pig herd size ( Tables C15- 16)

The pig sector is highly concentrated. On 1st June 2010, there were 48 holdings with more than 250 female breeding pigs, accounting for 9% of total holdings. However, these holdings accounted for 33,044 or 85% of all female breeding pigs. Conversely, there were a large number of holdings (381 or 70% of the total) with less than 5 female breeding pigs, accounting for just 741 or 1.9% of female breeding pigs.

Chart C15: Distribution of pigs and poultry by regional grouping, June 2010

Distribution of poultry ( Tables C15- 16)

There were 14.59 million poultry on agricultural holdings in Scotland on 1st June 2010. The majority (81%) of poultry were located in Grampian, Scottish Borders, Tayside and Fife, with each regional grouping accounting for 14% to 19% of the Scottish total.

Poultry flock size ( Tables C17- C18)

The poultry sector is highly concentrated. On 1st June 2010, there were 127 holdings with more than 1,000 fowls for laying eggs for eating, accounting for 2% of total holdings. However, these holdings accounted for 4.49 million or 98% of fowls laying eggs for eating. Conversely, there were a large number of holdings (4,299 or 93% of those with fowls for laying eggs) with less than 20 laying fowls, accounting for just 34,656 or 0.8% of fowls laying eggs for eating.

There is also a similar pattern for breeding fowls, with 48 holdings (3% of the total) with more than 1,000 breeding fowls, accounting for 1.07 million (99%) of all breeding fowls. Conversely there were just 1,486 holdings (94% of the total) accounting for just 5,672 or 0.5% of breeding fowls.