Japanese Cattle Numbers Falling

JAPAN – Japan’s cattle population contracted by 2.5 per cent last year as a range of factors combined to put pressure on farms.
calendar icon 22 May 2014
clock icon 1 minute read

National Livestock Breeding Centre (NLBC) data shows total cattle numbers shrunk to 3.931 million head, the lowest since its database started in 2003.

Reasons for the decline include farmers leaving the industry, food and mouth disease in Miyazaki Prefecture in 2010, a major cattle breeding scheme filing for bankruptcy and heifer slaughter.

Major breeds hit are Wagyu, down three per cent from April 2013 to 1.61 million and Holstein, down two per cent to 1.76 million. The nearly half a million crossbred herd also dropped three per cent.

Data from the NLBC - Chart courtesy of Meat and Livestock Australia

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