The national total stock of dairy cattle for 2015-16 decreased by 2% to 2.7 million head. The change was driven by a decline of 6% in Victorian stocks which has about two thirds of the country's dairy cattle.
Total meat cattle in Australia decreased by 302,000 head (1%) with Western Australia being the main contributor to the decrease with 12% fewer head.
The total number of sheep and lambs remained fairly steady in 2015-16 however numbers in Victoria fell by 5% where unfavourable weather conditions were experienced throughout the state.
The total number of pigs continued to steadily rise, increasing nationally by 1% in 2015-16.
CHANGE IN COLLECTION SCOPE
The scope for the 2015-16 Agricultural Census was all agricultural businesses with an Estimated Value of Agricultural Operations (EVAO) of $40,000 or greater. This is a change from previous ABS rural environment and agricultural collections, where a scope of EVAO of $5,000 or greater was used. This change was foreshadowed in February 2016 in Agricultural Census: Nature and Content, 2015-16 (cat. no 7100.1).
The 2014-15 estimates presented in this publication have been revised to use the new scope of $40,000 or greater.
For more information about EVAO and the change in scope, refer to the Explanatory Notes within this release.
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