In English

Summary
List of tables
List of terms

Summary

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For the first time, the Swedish Board of Agriculture has used the sheep and goat count made in December each year for registry purposes to make statistical estimates of the number of sheep, ewes, bags and lambs. Regular statistical surveys of the sheep population have already been made in June.

The number of sheep was estimated to 587 000 in June 2018, while this survey found them to number about 372 000 animals in December 2018.  The main difference is that the number of lambs has decreased as a natural result of most lambs being born in spring and slaughtered during autumn.
The survey structure also provides the opportunity to estimate the number of sheep outside of what is defined as agricultural holdings. An agricultural company is a company that by definition has a certain number of hectares of land or farmland or a certain number of animals. The estimate of this survey shows that there are about 45 000 sheep that are not included in what is defined as agricultural companies. The total sheep population in Sweden is therefore estimated to be just over 417 000 sheep in December 2018, of which almost 75% are ewes and rams.

In December 2018, the number of companies with sheep was about 1 000 fewer than in June 2018. In total, the number of companies with sheep was estimated to be 8 143 in December 2018 where in principle all had ewes and rams while about half had lambs.

 

List of tables

 

Explanation of symbols

1. Number of sheep in December 2018

2. Number of holdings with sheep in December 2018

 

List of terms

Baggar Besättning Djur Får Företag Hela riket Lantbruksdjur Lamm Län Medelfel Område Produktionsområde Summa Tackor

Rams Herd Animal Sheep Holding(s) Sweden Livestock Lambs County Standard error Area Production area Total Ewes