According to preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis), there were approximately 14,700 pig farms in the country as of 3 May 2026. This represents a decline of 3.2% (490 farms) compared with November 2025 and 3.6% (550 farms) compared with May 2025.
Over the past decade, the number of pig farms has fallen by 40%, or nearly 9,800 holdings.
Germany's pig population stood at approximately 21 million head at the beginning of May. Compared with November 2025, the number declined by 2.3% (501,400 head), although it recorded a slight year-on-year increase of 0.6% (131,100 head).
Despite this modest annual increase, the long-term trend remains negative. Since 2016, Germany's pig population has declined by 22.5%, or approximately 6.1 million animals.
At the same time, production continues to become more concentrated. While the average German pig farm kept around 1,100 pigs in 2016, the average herd size has now increased to approximately 1,400 animals per farm.
The sharpest decline was recorded in the finishing pig category. At the beginning of May, Germany had approximately 9 million finishing pigs, down 2.5% from November 2025 and 4.2% from a year earlier.
The piglet and young pig population totalled 10.6 million head. While this was 2.3% lower than in November, it was 5.1% higher than in May 2025.
The breeding sow herd remained relatively stable at approximately 1.4 million head—0.9% lower than six months earlier but 0.9% higher than in May 2025.
The statistics also indicate continuing structural changes across Germany's livestock sector. The national cattle population stood at approximately 10.4 million head, virtually unchanged year on year (+0.2%), but down 17.6% compared with ten years ago.
The number of cattle farms also continued to decline. Over the past year, the number of holdings fell by 1.8% to 120,300, while dairy farms declined by 2% to 46,200. Over the past decade, the number of dairy farms has fallen by more than one-third (35.2%).
Experts note that these figures confirm the long-term trend toward greater concentration in German livestock production: fewer farms are keeping larger herds, while the overall livestock population continues to decline gradually.
PigUA.info, based on Euromeatnews.com