Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many dairy farms there were in (a) England and (b) Northamptonshire (i) in 2001 and (ii) in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answer
[holding answer 4 July 2011]: The number of dairy farms in England and Northamptonshire for 2001 and 2010 is shown in the following table. Also shown is the number of dairy cattle on dairy holdings for England and Northamptonshire, along with UK milk production and milk yields to put the figures into context.The long-term trend in dairy production is towards fewer, larger and more productive herds. The following table shows how the decline in the number of dairy cows has been offset by an increase in average herd size and milk yields. So while the number of dairy cows in England has fallen by 22% between 2001 and 2010, the level of milk production (at the UK level) has fallen only by 5%.
| Number of dairy farms | Number of dairy cattle (on dairy holdings) | |||||
| England | Northants | England | Northants | UK milk production (million litres)¹ | Average UK milk yield (litres per cow per year) | |
| 2001², ³ | 14,045 | 57 | 1,252,687 | 5,751 | 14,284 | 6,346 |
| 20104 | 9,351 | 40 | 1,143,795 | 4,125 | 13,533 | 7,301 |
| ¹ Source: DEFRA and RPA statistics. | ||||||
| ² Sourced from June Survey. Defined as the number of holdings with dairy as the predominant farming activity. | ||||||
| ³ Thresholds have been applied to the 2001 data to make them comparable with the 2010 data which represent only commercial holdings. | ||||||
| 4 Sourced from CTS. Defined as the number of holdings from CTS with >10 2+dairy cows in the milking herd (i.e. with offspring). |