Dairy herd size 2002-2025| ��ƽ��

Average size of the national dairy herd in the United Kingdom (UK) from period 2002/03 to 2024/25 (in 1,000 head)

Characteristic	Average size in thousand head
2024/25	1,849
2023/24*	1,838
2022/23	1,845
2021/22	1,853
2020/21	1,853
2019/20*	1,867
2018/19	1,880
2017/18	1,897
2016/17	1,897
2015/16*	1,906
2014/15	1,866
2013/14	1,805
2012/13	1,795
2011/12*	1,799
2010/11	1,836
2009/10	1,853
2008/09	1,894
2007/08*	1,954
2006/07	1,989
2005/06	2,003
2004/05	2,060
2003/04*	2,185
2002/03	2,224

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Release date

August 2025

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Region

United Kingdom

Survey time period

2002/03 to 2024/25

Supplementary notes

* Leap years.
The source states that from 1999/00 to 2004/05 "the average size of the dairy herd is estimated by taking the size of the herd at June and December from the agricultural census information, and calculating the population trends during the remaining months of the year. From 2005/06 data is obtained through the Cattle Tracing System (CTS)."

Citation formats

In 2024/25, the average number of dairy cows, otherwise known as the ‘national dairy herd’ size in the United Kingdom was approximately 1.85 million animals.

UK milk production

The modern dairy cow is especially bred for milk production. Even though the UK dairy herd in 2002/03 was bigger than the current herd, the current milk production surpasses the one in 2002/03 by a few hundred million liters of milk. This is reflected in an increased average milk yield per cow in the UK.

UK Cheese production

Cheese production in the UK is up. Production since 2014 has consistently surpassed 400,000 metric tons, and even amounted to 512,000 tons in 2023. By far the biggest attributor to UK production is cheddar cheese. Here we can see again a significant increase in the production in the last three years.