The size of the European Union’s cattle herd was 74.8 million head at the end of 2022, according to a report that the European Commission published on October 19. It said this figure represented a fall of 1.2% year on year, writes Leatherbiz.

France, by far, remained the country with the biggest cattle herd, with just under 17 million head. Germany was a distant second with just under 11 million head, followed by Ireland with 6.5 million, Spain and Poland with 6.4 million each, and Italy with just over 6 million.

The figure for France represented a fall of 2% year on year. The decrease in Germany was 0.4%, while Ireland’s was 1.5%, Spain’s 1.8% and Italy’s 3.7%.

Poland was one of a number of countries that registered an increase in the size of their cattle herds, in this case by 1.1%. The Netherlands, where farmers have staged large public protests over proposed restrictions to their activity, also registered an increase; its cattle herd increased by 1.2% to reach 3.75 million head.