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Livestock numbers continued to decline with the total number of cattle down by two per cent to 1.80 million. Within this, the number of beef cattle fell two per cent to 725,950 with the number of dairy cattle remaining virtually unchanged on 2012. The number of calves fell by four per cent to 531,132.
There was also a further fall in the number of sheep, down two per cent to 6.57 million. This was chiefly due to a 167,000, or five per cent, decrease in lambs, much of which was related to the poor weather.
Pigs numbers saw a large fall, down 12 per cent to 319,000, likely to be linked to the reduction in meat processing facilities, but part of a long-running trend. Poultry saw a four per cent decline to 14.2 million, though this is within the normal fluctuations of poultry numbers.
Wednesday October 9, 2013/ Scottish Government/ Scotland-United Kingdom.
http://news.scotland.gov.uk/
