Results from the Scottish Agricultural Census: June 2025
Final results from the 2025 June Agricultural Census on land use, crop areas, livestock and the number of people working on agricultural holdings.
Module results on irrigation methods are also included within this publication.
First published: 30 October 2025.
Continuing decline in cattle numbers
Total cattle numbers in Scotland have been in a long-term decline since a high in 1974, when there were 2.68 million cattle. This long-term trend continued in 2025, with cattle numbers falling to 1.65 million, a decline of 2.6% compared with the five-year average and 0.9% on the previous year.
A 5.3% decrease in the total number of female beef cattle contributed to this decline when compared with the five-year average, while total female dairy cattle increased by 2.6%. When compared with the previous year, total female beef cattle decreased by 2.4% and total female dairy cattle increased by 1.1%.
The total number of calves decreased by 1.9% compared with the five-year average (a 1.1% increase on the previous year).
Figure 7: Total number of cattle, 1974 to 2025.
Contact
email - agric.stats@gov.scot