Sweden! - International Federation of Agricultural Journalists

SOLUTIONS FOR A GREEN FUTURE 15
Milk – animals
and dairy farmers
There are around 1.5 million cattle in Sweden and approximately
276,000 of them are dairy cows. They produce
more or less three million tons of milk, which meant that
in 2010 Sweden used 82% of its milk quota.
The number of dairy farmers in Sweden
has been steadily decreasing over the
last few years. Two thousand dairy farms
have disappeared over a period of 5 years,
leaving a total of 4,300 dairy farms in 2010.
Although structural reorganization has
resulted in the producers becoming larger
- the average producer today has 62 cows
- the total number of cows has reduced by
14 percent over 5 years.
Breeds
The most common dairy breeds are the
Swedish Lowland cattle (SLB/Holstein)
and the Swedish Red and White cattle
(SRB). More than 90% of all cows are
from these two breeds. In 2010 there were
rather more SLB cows than SRB cows. A
smaller percentage of the dairy cows are
from the Swedish Hornless (SKB) and the
Swedish Jersey breeds.
The amount of milk produced by Swedish
cows has increased over the last few years,
apart from 2010 when average productivity
decreased somewhat. In that year it was almost
9,500 kilos of energy-corrected milk
per cow and year. The most productive
breed was the Swedish Lowland.
Where are the dairy farms located?
Most dairy farms are found in a belt over
southern Sweden, from Halland in the
west, to Kalmar and Gotland in the east.
However, Skåne in the very south is not
part of this region and has instead predominantly
crop cultivation farming.
The market
The prices of milk in Sweden have been
affected all the more steadily by the international
market, as European agricultural
politics has become less regulated. Over 4