England's pig breeding herd expanded over the 12 months to June 2026, according to the latest census figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
The June census put breeding pig numbers in England at 322,000 head, a rise of 2.8% on a year earlier. The figure carries a fairly wide confidence interval of plus or minus 13,300 head, so the scale of the change should be read with some caution.
Within the breeding herd, in-pig sows rose 3.9% to 184,000 head, while in-pig gilts, young females carrying their first litter, climbed 8.1% to 28,000 head.
Gilts intended for further breeding edged up 0.5% to 68,000 head. Sows being suckled or kept for further breeding moved the other way, falling 2.1% to 34,000 head.
The overall increase points to a modest recovery in a sector that has weathered several difficult years of high costs and thin margins.
Pig World cautioned, however, that the growth may prove short-lived. Anecdotal reports of producers cutting their herds or leaving pig farming altogether, reinforced by Defra's own data, suggest the trend could be reversed in the period ahead.
Photo: Pauline E / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Source: Pig World
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