A total of 655,210 cows were culled in January 2017 up from 634,940 in the previous January with slaughterings in France and the Netherlands driving the increase.

Cow culling in France rose 3.8% while Dutch culling was up from 31.8% from 39,180 in January 2016 to 51,620 in January 2017. Conversely, culling in Germany was down 1.8% and 3.7% in the UK.

The culling of cows in the Netherlands is being driven by the country’s necessity to adhere to phosphates regulations.

The Dutch government has introduced a cow culling scheme to comply with the regulations.

The scheme offers a €300/cow slaughter premium and the government was planning to remove 40,000 cows through successive rounds of applications from late February to May.

In total, the Netherlands wants to remove 60,000 cows from production over time.

Read more

Dutch government accelerates dairy cow cull

Full coverage: farming in the Netherlands