The national sheep, hog and cattle herds all reported modest increases in the Statistics Canada January 2012 inventory report.
The number of sheep increased to 828,600 head, up two percent from the same date in 2011.
There are 12 million hogs on Canadian farms, up 1.1 percent from the same date a year earlier when there were 11.9 million.
However the breeding side is down. There are about 1.3 million sows and gilts reported, down fractionally from January 2011 and 1.3 percent less than the number reported on the same date in 2010.
The beef cow herd remains stable at 12.5 million head, up half a percent from a year ago.
There were about 1.4 million dairy cows and heifers on 16,270 farms. This is unchanged from last year.
An estimated 95,105 farms reported beef cattle and calves as of Jan. 1, 2012, down 1.4 percent from last year and down 4.3 percent from two years earlier.
The only area of growth showed up in the number of heifers held back for breeding. The retention rate rose 4.3 percent but cow numbers fell one percent to 4.2 million head, continuing a downward trend that started in January 2006.
“Overall our breeding herd last year still shrunk,” said market analyst Brian Perillat of Canfax.
“Even if you combine it with the increase in heifers, we still are not keeping enough heifers to replace the decrease in cow numbers,” he said after the report was released Feb. 21.
The report found 550,000 head were held back but Perillat said the 10 year average retention rate is about 600,000 head. The remainder of heifers at about 840,000 were slaughtered.
