Publication - Statistics

Results from the Scottish Agricultural Census: June 2024

Published: 24 October 2024
From: Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands
Directorate: Environment and Forestry Directorate, +1 more … Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate
Topic: Farming and rural

Final results from the 2024 June Agricultural Census on land use, crop areas, livestock and the number of people working on agricultural holdings.

Module results on slurry storage and agricultural machinery are also included within this publication.

Supporting documents

Continuing decline in cattle numbers

Total cattle numbers in Scotland have been in a long-term decline since a high in 1974, when there were 2.68 million cattle. This trend continued in 2024, with cattle numbers falling to 1.67 million, a decline of 2.4% compared with the five year average. If compared with 2023, cattle numbers decreased by 0.9%.

Figure 7: Total number of cattle, 1974 to 2024

Line graph showing the decline in total cattle from a peak in 1974 (at 2.68 million cattle) to 2024 (1.67 million cattle).

Contact

Email: agric.stats@gov.scot

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Continuing decline in cattle numbers

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