Decline in dairy cattle population shifts to young cattle

The Dutch cattle population remained relatively stable in 2025, as evidenced by the December count from CBS. However, the effects of the decline in the sector are visible. The number of young cattle in the Netherlands indeed decreased. Meanwhile, the decline in the number of beef calves in the Netherlands is not continuing. The size of the cattle population remained relatively stable in 2025. In total, the size of the cattle population decreased by only 0.4% to approximately 3,549,000 cattle compared to the same count in 2024. Thus, the result is completely different from the previous year, in which the number of cattle decreased by as much as 4.8% compared to the year before. The number of dairy cattle fell by 0.05% to 1,518,000. The relative stability is the result of a lower slaughter figure, which has so far compensated for the effects of the number of exiters. The number of slaughters decreased in 2025 by 5.7% compared to the previous year, from 559,641 slaughters to 527,501 slaughters, according to data from RVO. This is due to the relatively high milk prices for most of the year, allowing dairy farmers to keep their cattle longer. However, after the significant drop in milk prices, a clear recovery in the slaughter figures was visible. In the last quarter of the year, there was only a decrease of 1.1% in the slaughter figure, and in the first weeks of 2026, there is a significant increase. Decline visible in youth cattle population At first glance, the decline expected with the LBV+ scheme does not yet seem to be reflected in the data. When zooming in specifically on the data, however, the picture changes. While the dairy cattle population of animals under two years old decreased by only 0.6%, the amount of young cattle in the Netherlands fell by 2.1% to approximately 924,000 cattle. This is a sign of a structural decline in the dairy cattle population, while dairy farmers have been keeping their cattle for as long as possible. This decline was already initiated the previous year. Compared to 2024, the number of young cattle decreased by 5.6%. One difference is that the relative decline was smaller, as the entire cattle population in that year decreased by 4.7%. Over a longer period, the decline also begins to become visible. When we look at the last five years, we see that the amount of young cattle decreased by 6.1%, compared to a decrease of 4.9% in the entire cattle population. More calves Remarkably, the number of beef calves remained stable in 2025. The total number of beef calves increased by 0.1%. The stable result is a reaction to the significant decline last year. In 2024, the number of beef calves in the Netherlands decreased by no less than 9.6% compared to the year before.