EU farmers had 533,740 cows slaughtered in April, around 50,000 fewer than during the same month last year, according to the latest full monthly figures from Eurostat. This follows a peak of nearly 670,000 cows culled in March. The swing in cow slaughters was most visible in the Netherlands. There, cow culls have been running higher than 2016 levels since the start of the year, as measures to cut the dairy herd to comply with phosphate pollution rules bite. While Dutch cow slaughterings nearly
doubled year-on-year in March, they fell back to just above last year’s level in April.
EU farmers had 533,740 cows slaughtered in April, around 50,000 fewer than during the same month last year, according to the latest full monthly figures from Eurostat. This follows a peak of nearly 670,000 cows culled in March.
The swing in cow slaughters was most visible in the Netherlands. There, cow culls have been running higher than 2016 levels since the start of the year, as measures to cut the dairy herd to comply with phosphate pollution rules bite. While Dutch cow slaughterings nearly doubled year-on-year in March, they fell back to just above last year’s level in April.
Sharp drop
Other major dairy producers such as France, Germany and the UK had cow slaughtering numbers broadly in line with last year’s for the first three months of 2017, but saw a sharp drop in culls in April. The number of cows killed in Germany fell below 100,000 for the first time in the past year, to 88,000 in April.
Poland, meanwhile, has seen its cow slaughterings decrease steadily since the start of this year.
If confirmed, the drop in cow culls could point to an increase in European milk supply.
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