Sheep and goat populations declined slightly in the 12 months to last December, while the islands’ cattle population went up by more than three per cent, according to official statistics.

There were 11,697 sheep and 4,847 goats in the Maltese islands in December 2012, a year-on-year drop of 1.6 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively.

Cattle stocks increased by 3.4 per cent – or 519 heads – to nearly 15,600 heads, the National Statistics Office said.

More than seven in 10 of all sheep and goats were located in Malta, with the south eastern district accounting for 32.6 per cent of sheep and 29.7 per cent of goats.

More than 67 per cent of the cattle were located in Malta, of which 37 per cent were in the southeast. The remaining 5,069 heads were found on farms in Gozo and Comino.

In 2012, 308 holdings were rearing cattle, of which 126 concentrated mainly on milk production, accounting for 89 per cent of the total stock.