The latest figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have revealed that the UK pig population is at its lowest level in over a decade.
The figures show that on June 1, 2023, the UK pig population was 4.68 million, which is a year-on-year decline of 10.3%.
This means there has been a loss of over half a million animals (537,000) and that the population is at its smallest since 2012.
Responding to the figures, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) said the drop in the total pig population has been driven by a “substantial fall” in the numbers of fattening pigs.
AHDB senior livestock analyst Freya Shuttleworth said this is “unsurprising” given the size of decline seen in the breeding herd last year and the negative impacts that summer 2022 had on fertility.
“Fattening pigs are at the lowest number since 2015, at 4.26 million head, a fall of 11.2% compared to June last year,” she said.
“These figures support the historically low slaughter throughputs being seen in 2023, with year to date (January – November) clean pig kill sitting 9.1% behind numbers recorded last year.”
However, the total breeding pig population has seen “minimal change” she said, down only 0.2% in 2023 compared to 2022, with numbers totalling 428,000.
UK pig herd
Within the total breeding pig population, Shuttleworth said movements have been mixed.
The overall female breeding herd saw a decline of 1.5% to total 338,000, with sows in pig down 3.6% year-on-year but gilts in pig up a “significant” 13%.
“Boars being used for service recorded a loss of 5.4% year-on-year, but the number of gilts intended for first time breeding grew by 6.5%,” she said
“The increase of gilts in pig and the number of gilts intended for first time breeding shows signs of improved industry sentiment, likely in part due to improved farm margins.
“While this may indicate cautious growth for some producers, we do not expect to see the industry bouncing back to the heights of 2021 in terms of pig numbers, throughputs or production.”
