Livestock in Canada

Release date: May 24, 2017
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Infographic: Livestock in Canada
Description: Livestock in Canada

Alberta had more feeder beef cattle than all other provinces combined in 2016, with almost 1.5 million head.

Alberta leads in beef

Feeder beef cattle across Canada (in number of head)
Province Number of feeder beef cattle
British Columbia 55,995
Alberta 1,476,673
Saskatchewan 256,850
Manitoba 132,203
Ontario 428,943
Quebec 100,983
New Brunswick 5,832
Nova Scotia 5,664
Prince Edward Island 13,595
Newfoundland and Labrador 235

For every milk-producing cow in Canada there were 4 beef cows.

Canadian farms used technology to grow

  • In 2016, 8.1% of farms reporting dairy cows reported the use of robotic milking; these farms held 12.5% of milk cows on Census Day.
Largest livestock sales by farm type, by province
Province Farm type Sales in 2015
British Columbia Poultry and egg $786.8 million
Alberta Beef cattle $7.4 billion
Saskatchewan Beef cattle $1.7 billion
Manitoba Hog and pig $1.1 billion
Ontario Dairy and milk $2.4 billion
Quebec Dairy and milk $2.7 billion
New Brunswick Poultry and egg $126.3 million
Nova Scotia Poultry and egg $187.2 million
Prince Edward Island Dairy and milk $86.0 million
Newfoundland and Labrador Poultry and egg $64.5 million

Livestock outputs

Poultry and egg production

  • 1.5 billion kilograms of broilers were produced in 2015 up 9.8% from 2010.
  • 7.4 billion table eggs were produced in 2015 up 10.9% from 2010.

Concentration of Canada's pig industry

  • Half of all farms that reported pigs held 99.7% of the 14.1 million pigs in Canada.

Livestock is more than just cattle, pigs and chickens

Livestock in Canada, in number of head
Livestock Number of head
Sheep 1,054,260
Goats 230,034
Bison 119,314
Rabbits 172,489
Mink 550,660

Source: Census of Agriculture, 2011 and 2016.

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Copyright

Published by authority of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada.

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada as represented by the Minister of Industry, 2017

All rights reserved. Use of this publication is governed by the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement.

Catalogue no. 11-627-M

Frequency: Occasional

Ottawa

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