Dairy goat herd has increased again

© Hollandse Hoogte / Rob Voss
The Dutch dairy goat herd keeps growing. As of this year, the herd size stands at 476 thousand, i.e. 4 percent more than last year. The dairy goat herd has increased nearly fivefold since 2000. Most dairy goats are found in the provinces of Noord-Brabant and Gelderland. This is evident from recent figures in the national agricultural census conducted by Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
Dairy goat herd
PeriodeDairy goat herd size (x 1,000)
200098
2001116
2002143
2003158
2004168
2005172
2006228
2007223
2008254
2009274
2010248
2011251
2012272
2013277
2014296
2015328
2016347
2017376
2018431
2019457
2020*476
* Provisional figures.


The dairy goat herd has seen practically uninterrupted growth over the past two decades; only between 2009 and 2010 was there a significant decline (-10 percent) due to the cullings on account of the Q fever outbreaks. Livestock numbers subsequently rose again, reaching 476 thousand in 2020. A number of provinces have implemented a goat stop.

Less organic goat farming

The number of organically reared dairy goats has declined slightly since last year (-1.4 percent). According to the latest herd count, the organic goat herd stands at roughly 41.5 thousand heads this year. 8.7 percent of the national dairy goat herd are raised organically, a larger share than in the dairy cow herd with 2.5 percent raised organically.

The Netherlands currently has 71 organic goat farms, i.e. 4 percent fewer than in 2019. The number of farms (71) was the same two decades ago in 2000.

Scale increase continues

The dairy goat sector has increased in scale, similar to the dairy cattle sector. The average herd size per farm has gone up from 117 in 2000 to 837 this year. At the turn of the century, there were 40 farms with 500 or more dairy goats, representing 5 percent of the total number of goat farms. This has increased to a share exceeding 50 percent (323 farms). As of this year, there are altogether 569 farms with a dairy goat herd.

The average herd size per farm is even higher at specialised goat farms. In 2000, the average herd size at specialised dairy goat farms stood at 313 heads; this is 1,177 as of 2020. 96 percent of all dairy goats in the Netherlands are reared at specialised farms.

Dairy goat herd per farm
PeriodeAverage herd per farm
2000117
2001134
2002174
2003197
2004233
2005236
2006246
2007324
2008357
2009435
2010428
2011440
2012495
2013533
2014591
2015596
2016708
2017738
2018725
2019782
2020*837
* Provisional figures.

Share of farms with dairy goats, by farm size
 1 to 19 heads (%)20 to 49 heads (%)50 to 99 heads (%)100 to 199 heads (%)200 to 499 heads (%)500 heads or more (%)
200061337215
200159237227
2002532372312
2003513352316
2004493342021
2005512341922
2006593231221
2007472241530
2008463241333
2009403241238
2010373241737
2011373241539
2012382241441
2013352241245
2014303241448
2015323141248
2016233251354
2017232151455
2018303241150
201929324953
2020*27224857

Most dairy goats in Noord-Brabant and Gelderland

40 percent of dairy goat farms are located in either Noord-Brabant (115 farms) or Gelderland province(110 farms). These provinces house over half of the national dairy goat herd: Noord-Brabant has 30 percent and Gelderland 25 percent.

The largest herd size is found in the municipality of Ede (16.5 thousand), followed by the municipality of Landerd (13 thousand).
Dairy goat herd, 2020*
ProvincienaamDairy goat herd
Groningen7760
Friesland17728
Drenthe15838
Overijssel65215
Flevoland7707
Gelderland117373
Utrecht24670
Noord-Holland14338
Zuid-Holland16901
Zeeland3322
Noord-Brabant141362
Limburg43987
Provisional figures.

Labour input per goat has decreased

The number of annual work units per goat has decreased by 80 percent over the past two decades. Twenty years ago, 100 dairy goats had a labour input of 1.5 annual work units. This has declined to 0.3 annual work units by 2020. Dairy goat farms have an average of 2.7 annual work units. For comparison: dairy cattle farms have an average of 2.2 annual work units.

One-third of the work is performed by women. This is a higher share than at dairy cattle farms, where approximately 25 percent of the work is done by women.

Around 30 percent of the work on the goat farms is done by workers who are not part of the family. Family labour force represents 90 percent of the annual work units on dairy cattle farms, a higher share than on goat farms.