Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
Cows in a stable
Cows in a stable - Credit: Photo: vpardi/DepositPhotos
Business
Nature
Statistics Netherlands
cattle
nitrogen
greenhouse gas emissions
Goats
pig farm
Noord-Brabant
Gelderland
Friesland
Overijssel
Friday, November 29, 2019 - 08:57
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Shrinking cattle stock resulting in less nitrogen emissions

The number of cows, bulls and calves in the Netherlands decreased by 3 percent this year to 3.8 million, Statistics Netherlands reported on Friday based on the provisional figures from the Agricultural Census. "That is really extremely beneficial for the nitrogen dossier",Cor Pierik, agricultural economist at Statistics Netherlands, said to RTL Nieuws.

The reduction in the number of cattle stock is the result of measures taken in 2016 to reduce the number of dairy cows and thereby phosphate. Last year almost 40 percent of the nitrogen emissions in agriculture came from cattle stock - cows, bulls and calves. Now that the stock is shrinking, these emissions will also fall. Statistics Netherlands did not calculate by how much. 

Two thirds of the cattle in the Netherlands can be found in Gelderland, Noord-Brabant, Overijssel and Friesland. In Noord-Brabant the number of cattle decreased the most, by 5 percent or 30 thousand cows, calves and bulls.

The pig population in the Netherlands also shrank, by 2 percent to 12 million. Half of all pigs in the Netherlands are kept in Noord-Brabant, where the number of pigs decreased slightly faster, by 3 percent.

While there are fewer pigs and cattle in the Netherlands, the number of goats are increasing. This year the Netherlands counts 614 thousand goats, 4.5 percent more than a year earlier. In the summer of 2017 Gelderland and Noord-Brabant ordered a halt to the increasing goat populations, due to a fear of health risks. But this year the number of goats in these provinces increased by 6 percent and 2 percent respectively. 

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Workers are once again spending their holiday allowance
  • Danish police search for Dutch suspect in murder and stabbing case
  • Second case of monkeypox found in the Netherlands: RIVM
  • Reports of development fund fraud increased in 2021
  • Enforcement officers in Utrecht allowed to voluntarily wear bodycams
  • 1 in 6 Dutch homes still lack smoke detectors

Top stories

  • Second case of monkeypox found in the Netherlands: RIVM
  • Much unknown about first Dutch monkeypox cases, experts say
  • 17-year-old girl stabbed after Hilversum robbery; bystanders overpower suspect
  • Most buses in Eindhoven and Venlo are not running due to strike
  • Dutch deficit rises to 3.4%, leading to some higher taxes; 30 percent expat benefit reduced
  • First monkeypox case definitively found in Netherlands

© 2012-2022, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content