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THE total number of sheep and lambs in Wales has risen for the third year in a row, visitors to the Royal Welsh Winter Fair at Llanelwedd will hear today.

Figures just released from the June 2012 Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture in Wales, show the total number of sheep and lambs in Wales in June was nearly 8.9 million, with lamb numbers rising by nearly 5% to 4.6 million and ewe numbers rising slightly by 1.2 % to 4.2 million.

Figures show that the number of sheep and lambs rose by 3% on 2011 figures.

John Richards, industry information officer with Welsh red meat promotion agency Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC), said: “This is the third year in a row that sheep numbers in Wales have risen.

“This increase is due to a rise in the number of lambs being produced mainly as a result of farmers keeping more productive ewes. This can only be a good thing for the industry.”

“While these figures do not include lambs that were sold in May it is good to see that the Welsh flock seems to have stabilised following a period of decline at the beginning of this century.”

Total cattle numbers in Wales have continued to decrease slightly over the last few years and in June stood at 1.1 million, mainly due to a reduction in the number of female beef cattle over two years.

“A possible reason for this decline may be due to farmers benefiting from market forces by fattening more cattle for beef production instead of retaining them for future breeding” added Mr Richards.

Pig numbers have also increased. In June the number of pigs in Wales rose to 28,700, an 11% increase on the previous year.

According to the June 2012 Survey of agriculture in Wales the total number of sheep and lambs in Wales was 8,898,200. This includes a ewe population of 4,169,300 and a lamb population of 4,552,700.

The total number of cattle and calves recorded using the Cattle Tracing System was 1,113,100.