SCOTLAND'S cattle herd is now at its smallest since the 1950s, a statistic that farming leaders have described as a "huge concern".

This week, the Scottish Government's Chief Statistician released the results of the December Agricultural Survey, showing rises in the number of sheep, pigs and poultry, but with total cattle numbers down by 1.4%, to 1.71 million. Within that figure, beef cattle were down 1.2% and dairy cattle were down 0.6%.

By comparison, sheep numbers increased 1.7% to 5.04 million, pig numbers continued to shoot up, with 11% growth to 368,000, driven by an increase in the number of fattening pigs. In the poultry sector, a 19% increase in the number of broilers resulted in a 7% increase in the total, to 14.4 million.

NFU Scotland vice president Martin Kennedy said: “The figures suggest that an increase in sheep numbers would be expected as a result of a better lambing in comparison to the previous year. We need to drill down and see which proportion of the increase is attributed to breeding stock and which is because of a higher carry over of lambs into the winter.

"The beef cattle numbers, however, are a huge concern and highlight the difficultly in maintaining numbers. It shows the need for continued targeted support either directly or indirectly to the largest part of our industry."

Livestock committee chair Charlie Adam added: “The fact we are at a 50 year low for cattle numbers and declining is very worrying. For beef producers, higher costs, tighter carcase specifications and a reduction on the maximum value a carcase can achieve will be having an effect.

“Also, changes to support systems to area-based payments will have seen large reductions for many of the cattle breeders and finishers in the ‘engine room’ where the bulk of our quality cattle are produced," said Mr Adam. "There isn’t enough profit, if any, in beef production without support. At current levels of support, it will take a lot more than efficiency improvements to change the fortunes of beef production – it needs market prices to rise substantially!”

The survey found that winter cereal plantings in December were up at 196,600 hectares, with 2400 hectares more oilseed rape, 2300 hectares more wheat, 700 hectares more oats, and 400 hectares more barley.

NFUS crops committee chairman Ian Sands said: “A big factor in the surge in the winter cropping area was the outstanding weather window we enjoyed post-harvest. That spell was some of the best autumn planting conditions that we have had for a few years.

The union’s crops policy manager Peter Loggie added: “The overall total of winter crops is a bit under 2% higher than the 5-year average but 9% below the 10-year average. Winter barley and oilseed rape are below both the 5 and 10-year averages. While it recovered slightly, the figures for oilseed rape both in 2015 and 2016 have shown a considerable dip which reflects the higher risk due to loss of plant protection products like neonicotinoids and certain slug controls."

Pigs and poultry policy manager, Penny Johnston added: “It's good to see increases in both pigs and poultry, although they need to be placed in the context that both the broiler and pig industries have had major setbacks in recent history and these numbers represent signs of welcome recovery rather than expansion.”