HC Deb 20 March 2002 vol 382 c377W
Mrs. Ann Winterton

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will estimate the size of the national(a) dairy herd, (b) beef herd, (c) pig breeding herd, (d) fattening pig herd, (e) sheep flock and (f) lamb flock under one year old for the year ending 2001; and what the figures were for 2000. [44102]

Mr. Morley

The December 2001 Survey of Agriculture Results for England were published on 7 March 2002 in Statistics News Release 11/02 and are available on the DEFRA website at www.defra.gov.uk. Estimates for the dairy and beef herd, the pig breeding and fattening herds and the sheep and lamb flocks are detailed in the table with comparable figures for 2000.

Thousand head
Herd1 December 2000 December 2001 percentage change2 December 2001/December 2000
Dairy herd 1,581 1,439 -9.0
Beef herd 753 666 -11.5
Pig breeding herd 475 440 -7.4
Fattening pig herd 4,398 4,129 -6.1
Sheep breeding flock 8,188 6,698 -18.2
Lamb flock under 1 year3 3,790 3,241 -14.5
1 Includes estimates for minor holdings.
2 Based on unrounded figures.
3 Excludes ewe lambs already put to the lamb which are already included in the figures for the breeding flock.