English Pig Breeding Numbers Plummet to All-Time Low
The English pig breeding has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded, despite an overall increase in pig numbers.
Defra’s June livestock population update for England shows that, far from showing any signs of recovery, the breeding herd, including boars, fell back by a further 1% to 325,900 head, the smallest on record, in the year to June.
The number of sows in pig was down fractionally to 183,000 head, but there was a 5.3% fall in gilts in pig to 29,600 head and an 8.3% drop in ‘other sows’, dry sows or those kept for further breeding, to 38,600 head. This meant the female breeding (not including gilts not yet in pig) declined by 2.2% to 251,400 head.
More encouragingly, the number of gilts intended for first time breeding was up 4.3% to 66,400 head. Male breeding pigs numbers were down 3.6% to just over 8,000.
The big contraction happened between June 2021 June 2022, the height of the pig crisis, when the breeding herd (including boars) declined from 402,600 head to 328,600, an 18% drop. There was a slight recovery in June 2023, before numbers slipped back again this year.
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