The European dairy herd continued to fall last year as the fixed ceiling of the milk delivery quota interacted with rising productivity in the dairy industry. As average milk yields continue to increase at nearly 2% every year, so producers are forced to cut their numbers by a similar percentage.
Latest figures from the European Union’s statistical office, Eurostat, show that at 21.7 million heads, the total herd was 1.8% smaller at the end of 1997 than twelve months earlier. The rate of change, however, varies between different EU countries.
Countries showing the largest cutbacks in herds were Germany, Finland and Sweden