The pig pile cromp 5 percent to 9.96 million. Pig farmers were able to sign up for various schemes in recent years if they would stop, to which several pig farmers have responded.
It is the first time since 1979 that there are fewer than 10 million pigs in the Netherlands, the CBS calculated. There were 1.9 thousand loft animal companies with pigs in April, that is 7 percent fewer than a year ago. Smaller companies with five hundred pigs in particular have stopped (-11 percent) followed by companies with two thousand to five thousand pigs (-10 percent).
Also fewer cows
The number of cows fell by 3 percent to 3.65 million. Especially the young cattle for dairy farming decreased by 6 percent. Of all cattle, 42 percent is milk cow. Compared to a year earlier, the number of dairy cows fell by 1 percent in 2025 and compared to 10 years ago by 6 percent. The average number of cows per dairy farm has increased in recent years: on average there are now 114 per company, a year ago there were 111.
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The number of veal calves decreased by 4 percent to 964 thousand in 2025. Compared to 2015, the number of veal calves has increased by 6 percent, but a decrease has been shown in the last five years. The number of companies with veal calves has also decreased (-6 percent). The average number of veal calves per company rose to 708: almost a doubling compared to ten years ago, then there were 476 per company.