Publication - Statistics

Results from the Scottish Agricultural Census: June 2023

Published: 31 October 2023
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 2023 June Agricultural Census on land use, crop areas, livestock and the number of people working on agricultural holdings. Estimates for 2022 are published in the supporting documents.

Supporting documents

Continuing decline in cattle numbers

Total cattle numbers in Scotland have been declining long term since a peak in 1974, when there were 2.68 million cattle. This trend continued in 2023, with cattle numbers falling from the five year average by 3 per cent to 1.68 million.

Information on cattle numbers in this section has a complete time series.

Figure 9: Total number of cattle between 1973 and 2023

Line graph showing the decline in total cattle from a peak in 1974 (at 2.68 million cattle) to 2023 (1.68 million cattle).

Contact

Email: agric.stats@gov.scot

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