England’s overall pig herd and its breeding herd showed encouraging growth over the course of last year, new government figures show.
The overall herd was up by 8.7% to 3.6 million head, which equates to 300,000 more pigs on England’s farms at the end of 2024 than a year earlier.
This was driven by an 8.5% rise in the number of fattening pigs, which account for 91% of all pigs, to close to 3.3m head.
The new figures are included in Defra’s December livestock census for England.
They show there was no change in small piglet numbers, but there was a 26% leap in weaner numbers (up to 29kg) to 958,000 head.
Fattening pigs over 29kg were up by 3.2% year-on-year, to nearly 1.9 million head.
Defra's survey also shows an 8.1% increase in English female breeding herd to 258,000 in December 2024, equating to 19,000 more sows.
This was driven by a 13% rise in the number of sows in pig to 198,000 head and a 1.2% rise in ‘other sows’, including suckling and dry sows, to 39,000 head.
This more than offset a 16% fall in gilts in pig to below 21,000 head, compared with December 2023.
Looking at the figures, the National Pig Association (NPA) said: "Perhaps most encouraging in terms of future herd growth prospects, the number of gilts not yet in pig was up by 22% to more than 66,000 head.
"Comparison with the June census is difficult and can be misleading – the December figures are generally markedly lower than the June data.
"In this case, the overall pig herd is just 1.9% below the June figure (the December-June 2023 difference was 8%)," the body noted.
"The December 2024 breeding herd was actually 2.6% above the June 2024 figure, the first time this has happened since December 2008."
