These figures showed a drop of 830 cattle (4.4 per cent) when compared to 2002. The cattle population was broken down into three categories: less than one-year-old, aged between one and two and over two-years-old. There were 4,909 beasts in the first category, 4,938 in the second and 8,093 in the third category.

Compared to 2002, cattle less than one-year-old and between one and two-years-old registered declines of 1.8 and one per cent respectively. Cattle older than two dropped by 630 heads from 8,783 in 2002 (7.9 per cent.)

The December survey established that 153 farms (55.6 per cent) were engaged in dairy activity. These accounted for 16,769 heads or 93.5 per cent of total cattle stock.

The other 122 farms registered a population of 1,171 heads.

The majority of dairy cows are found in the South Eastern District, Gozo and Comino.

A total of 67.9 per cent of all beasts are found in Malta while the remaining 32.1 per cent are found in Gozo. Out of the 275 holdings, 122 are engaged in the rearing of cattle for beef production. The majority (113) are located in Malta.