Halle (dpa/sa) – Livestock in Saxony-Anhalt continued to shrink in the past year. Compared to the same period last year, 2.4 percent fewer cattle, 11.5 percent fewer pigs and 4.3 percent fewer sheep were counted by November 3 of last year, the State Statistical Office in Halle announced on Friday. According to the office, a decline in stocks has been recorded for some time.
The state office explained that the significant decline in the number of pigs meant that the number of animals fell below one million for the first time in a ten-year comparison. Dairy cows made up the largest share of the cattle kept in the country at 36.4 percent. The office counted a total of 101,164 animals – most of the Holstein Black and White breed.
In the overall stock of sheep, the most significant decline was recorded in lambs and young sheep under one year old. The number of ewes has also decreased significantly. A total of 55,800 sheep and thus 2,500 fewer animals than in the previous year were counted in around 300 Saxony-Anhalt farms, it said.
Due to increased prices, for example for energy or feed, many farms have come under pressure, the state farmers’ association explained on request. In addition, political guidelines on animal welfare, building law and environmental law do not go together in practice. “What the companies really need would be an honest, political perspective, less bureaucracy and an immediate revision of the building law. These points will be decisive in deciding how animal husbandry will develop in the coming years,” said association president Olaf Feuerborn.
