Livestock census Nov. 2017: more fattening pigs, unchanged sowing population The pig stock survey carried out by the Federal Statistical Office on 03. Nov. 2017 showed a 1.3% higher pig population compared to the previous year's date . The increase comes almost exclusively from the increase in fattening pig husbandry. The number of sows in Germany, at 1.9 million, has changed only marginally compared to the previous year.The number of pig farmers has dropped by -3.7% in the sow farmers, the decline was even 4.5%. There were above - average levels of pig husbandry in Rhineland-Palatinate with -6.5% , in Hesse with -3.2% , in Brandenburg with - 4% and in Lower Saxony with -2.6% .The decline in sow farms was particularly high in Brandenburg at -4.5 %, in Rhineland-Palatinate at -4.4% , in Thuringia at -3.5% and in Bavaria at -2.9% . Not in every case has this been associated with a decline in animal numbers. In general, the trend in Germany is that the piglets required for fattening increasingly come from imports with a focus on Denmark and Holland.The number of kept animals in the holdings increased to an average of 1,172 pieces . About 45% of the pigs are kept in units of more than 1,000 animals . In the stock size class 500 to less than 1,000 pigs are approx. 48% of the animals . In the category under 500 pigs, there are only 7% of recorded livestock.The average sow population has increased to just under 230 animals per farm . Sows under 1,000 are farmed by more than 50% of the managers, but only 17.5% of all breeding animals in Germany. Roughly 49% of the sow holders hold 82.5% of the animals caught in Germany. The focus of pure fattening farms is 35% in the category between 1,000 to less than 2,000 stance units .As a rule, the cost degression of a single barn is largely exhausted. Despite a small change in the total number of pigs, structural change continues in the direction of larger business units. It is comparatively little new built as pigsties acquired by changing ownership.
