Pig census May 2022: the lowest number in 32 years The Federal Statistical Office has published the preliminary results of the livestock census of May 3rd, 2022 . Only 22.3 million pigs were counted in Germany. This is 6.2% less than the November 2021 count and even 9.8% less than May the previous year. The decline has increasingly accelerated since May 2020. The number of pig farms has decreased by almost the same amount. The causes are the restrictions caused by the Covid pandemic, the ASF-related import ban in China and other countries, the increased costs for feed, energy and husbandry requirements. The producer prices are far from sufficient to cover the costs. Long-lasting losses in the past and the coming increase in further cost-driving animal husbandry regulations are increasingly leading to the decision to give up pig farming or to significantly reduce it permanently or even temporarily.In a long-term 10-year comparison , the pig population has fallen by around 20%, but the number of pig-keeping farms by 41%. Today, the farms keep around 1,250 animals per housing unit on average, 10 years ago it was just over 900 pigs. In view of the continuing difficult economic situation and the general conditions to be expected for animal husbandry, a further decline in the number of pigs in Germany can be expected in the near future . The political objective of significantly reducing animal husbandry for reasons of climate and environmental protection is already on the way to being realised. Sow husbandry is subject to particularly strong changes. In a ten-year comparison, sow husbandry has shrunk by 32%. In spite of fewer stables in the fattening farms, the German piglet import demand reaches around 20% with an upward trend. By the Nov. 2021 census , the number of sow farmers fell by -8%, the number of dams by -6.23%.In the fattening pig category, the more than 7% decrease in the number of animals over 80 kg confirms the significantly reduced slaughter numbers in the months of May and June 2022. For the coming months, the decline in the number of animals under 80 kg in the order of -3, 5% a persistently low live supply of fattening pigs.
