Dutch Hog Herd Shrinks for First Time in Six Years, Cattle Drop

The Dutch hog population fell for the first time in six years, shrinking 0.8 percent in December from a year earlier, while the cattle herd diminished a second year in a row, the Netherlands’ statistics office said.

The pig herd, the sixth-biggest in the European Union, declined to 12.1 million animals as of Dec. 1 from 12.2 million hogs a year earlier, the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek reported on its website today.

Germany has the biggest EU hog population, followed by Spain, Poland, France, Denmark and the Netherlands, Eurostat data show.

The cattle herd in the Netherlands decreased to 3.91 million head from 3.96 million, the statistics office said in a separate report.

Dutch pig herd, in thousands.

December 2011       12,103
April 2011          12,429
December 2010       12,206
April 2010          12,255
December 2009       12,108
April 2009          12,186

Dutch cattle herd, in thousands.

                    Cattle           Dairy Cows
December 2011       3,912            1,504
April 2011          3,885            1,470
December 2010       3,960            1,518
April 2010          3,975            1,479

To contact the reporter on this story: Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris at rruitenberg@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net.