Livestock in Canada

This section host statistics on inventory of livestock in Canada represented by total number of heads per year.

Livestock in Canada from 2016 to 2023
Year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Dairy cattle *                
Dairy cows 943,700 945,000 975,100 976,200 979,200 974,500 969,400 968,500
Dairy heifers 428,600 422,100 429,800 42,000 421,900 411,500 413,300 409,500
Beef cattle *                
Beef cows 3,675,200 368,600 3,743,800 3,741,700 3,668,400 3,711,100 3,652,800 3,562,400
Beef heifers 564,800 567,800 566,100 581,300 555,600 572,700 576,000 551,500
Swine *                
Boars, 6 months and over 18,600 19,100 19,000 17,400 16,600 16,800 16,900 16,000
Sows and gilts 1,235,900 1,240,900 1,234,800 1,233,400 1,246,200 1,240,000 1,230,800 1,230,800
All other hogs 12,680,000 12,985,100 12,817,800 12,815,000 12,857,000 12,913,100 12,683,200 12,683,200
Sheep *                
Rams 24,500 24,000 23,600 23,400 23,200 23,100 23,900 24,000
Ewes 516,800 511,100 512,900 509,400 502,700 501,500 503,100 508,800
Lambs for breeding 74,300 75,500 78,900 79,200 76,600 88,400 97,700 95,900
Goats ** 230,034         253,278    
Horses ** 291,561         183,733    
Bison ** 119,314         149,539    
* as of January 1st
** Census: May 2016 and May 2021
Source: Statistics Canada

For your convenience, this report is available in the following format:
PDF (553 KB)

If you have any questions or require additional information, please send an e-mail to aafc.cdic-ccil.aac@agr.gc.ca