Animal production in the Netherlands
On 1 April 2026 the Netherlands had 48,720 farms. 12,960 of them kept dairy cows and 2,300 kept pigs. In 2005 there were still 81,750 farms, 23,530 with dairy cows and 9,690 with pigs. The number of farms keeps falling, but the number of animals falls much less: farms are getting bigger. An average Dutch dairy farm now has 117 dairy cows. In total, more than 100 million animals live on Dutch farms, most of them chickens.
Source: Statistics Netherlands (CBS), agricultural census; 2026 figures are provisional. Updated 30 September 2026.
The Netherlands has a population of around 18 million people, yet the majority (70-80%) of the "animal products" is exported. We give a picture of the animals' living circumstances.
Number of cows in the Netherlands over the years
| Year (1 April) |
Cattle |
Dairy cows |
Farms with dairy cows |
| 2000 | 4,068,710 | 1,504,080 | 29,470 |
| 2005 | 3,796,780 | 1,433,200 | 23,530 |
| 2010 | 3,975,190 | 1,478,640 | 19,810 |
| 2016 | 4,251,460 | 1,744,830 | 17,910 |
| 2020 | 3,837,990 | 1,593,070 | 15,730 |
| 2025 | 3,643,800 | 1,526,840 | 13,360 |
| 2026* | 3,611,480 | 1,510,960 | 12,960 |
The number of dairy cows peaked at over 1.7 million in 2016, after the EU milk quota ended in 2015. It has fallen since, but there are still more dairy cows than in 2005, on fewer and larger farms.
* provisional. Source: CBS.
Since 2005, milk yield per cow has risen by a quarter: from about 7,100 litres a year to around 8,850 litres in 2025. But more milk also means more feed and more manure. A dairy cow now produces about 31,500 kg of manure a year, compared with 26,000 kg in 2005. Every litre of milk comes with more than 3.5 kg of manure, not counting the young stock.
Source: CBS, milk deliveries and manure production.
Livestock animals
| Species |
Extra information |
| Cattle |
3.6 million cattle in 2026, including 1.5 million dairy cows and 933,540 veal calves. A dairy cow is slaughtered at around six years of age, although she could live to about 20 (see how old does a cow get?). Veal calves are slaughtered before their first birthday. For all of these animals we described the abuses that they suffer. How old an animal normally becomes and how it lives under normal circumstances and how this differs for factory farm animals, click here. |
| Hogs for slaughter |
9.3 million pigs in 2026; in 2025 the pig population fell below 10 million for the first time in more than 45 years. Because of their short life, many more pigs are slaughtered each year. This is how life looks for a sow. |
| Sheep and goats |
699,000 sheep and 619,540 goats in 2026. The number of goats has more than doubled since 2005. |
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