Germany: Cattle inventories stable

The German statistics office reports that cattle numbers reached 12.81 mln head as of May 2010 and were thus slightly less than the 12.72 mln head counted in November 2009 and the 12.67 mln head one year earlier. Dairy cow numbers stood at 4.18 (4.20; 4.16) mln head. Hog inventories are at 26.5 mln head which is a decrease of 1 percent from November 2009. However, the minimum size of farms now included in the accounted has been increased starting in 2010, as a result, the 1 percent decrease in the inventory is of no significance.