Livestock farming and meat production
Statistical activity code: 21203
Yearly data: livestock production (meat, milk, eggs, wool and honey and beeswax) in the reference year, change in the number of livestock (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, poultry) in the reference year, fur farming (number, sold furs and their price); number of organic livestock and poultry, organic livestock production. Quarterly data: number of cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and poultry as at the last day of the quarter; production of meat, milk and eggs. Monthly data: number of purchased animals, weight and value of meat and offals received from purchased animals; number of slaughtered animals and meat received from them in approved meat establishments. | |
Estonian Classification of Economic Activities (EMTAK 2008) based on NACE Rev. 2 Classification of Estonian administrative units and settlements (EHAK) Combined Nomenclature (CN) | |
Agricultural holdings, agricultural small units Keepers of fur animals Organic farmers Meat processing establishments approved by the Agriculture and Food Board | |
Agricultural holding – a unit with single technical and financial management which produced agricultural products or maintained its land in good agricultural and environmental condition and whose livestock are registered in the Agricultural Registers and Information Board (ARIB) or which exceeds the threshold of the agricultural holding. Until 2019, agricultural holding threshold was: - at least one hectare of utilised agricultural land or; - less than one hectare of utilised agricultural land and agricultural products are produced mainly for sale. From 2020, agricultural holding threshold is at least: - 5 hectares of utilized agricultural area or; - 2 hectares of arable land or; - 0.5 hectares of potatoes or; - 0.5 hectares of vegetables and strawberries or; - 0.2 hectares of aromatic and medicinal plants and herbs, flowers, seeds, nurseries or; - 0.3 hectares of fruit and berry plantations, other permanent crops (except nurseries) or; - 100 m2 of greenhouses or; - 1.7 livestock units. Agricultural small unit – unit which is smaller than agricultural holding and livestock are not registered in the Agricultural Registers and Information Board (ARIB), where there are at least: a) 50 square metres of kitchen garden or three fruit trees or six berry bushes or; b) 10 rabbits, 10 poultry heads or other agricultural animals or; c) three colonies of bees. Agricultural producer – a legal or natural person, or a group of legal or natural persons, whose holding is situated in Estonia and who engages in agricultural activity. Approved meat establishments – according to the Food Act, approving of the companies is performed by the Agriculture and Food Board. Approving is a procedure, in the course of which the food-processing companies or their parts are checked with regard to their correspondence to the Food Act, European Parliament and Council Regulations No 852/2004 and 853/2004 and to all other appropriate acts of food processing. Average number of dairy cows – quotient of number of dairy cows feeding days and number of calendar days of the reference quarter (year). Average number of laying hens – quotient of number of laying hens feeding days and number of calendar days of the reference quarter (year). Average yield per cow – average quantity of milk obtained in a quarter (year) per dairy cow. Average yield per hen – average quantity of eggs obtained in a quarter (year) per laying hen. Bovine meat – the weight of a slaughtered bovine animal’s cold body after having been skinned, bled and eviscerated, and after removal of the genital organs with the attached muscles and the udder and the mammary fat, after the feet have been severed at the carpametacarpal or tarsometatarsal joints and the removal of the head. Bulls – non-castrated male bovine animals not included under calves and young cattle. Bullocks – castrated male bovine animals not included under calves and young cattle. Certified organic products – agricultural products received from a fully converted organic agricultural area or certified organic livestock and that can be labelled as fully organic. Conversion period – transition from non-organic to organic farming, within a given time period, during which the provisions concerning organic production are applied. During that period, the production cannot be labelled as organic yet. Cows – female bovine animals who have calved at least once. Dairy cows – cows held for producing milk. Enterprise – an enterprise consists of one or more companies (public limited company, private limited company, limited partnership, general partnership, commercial association) or branches of foreign companies or sole proprietors. Fattening pig – fattening pig with live weight of 50 kg or more, including cull boars and cull sows. Fully converted – agricultural area and/or livestock which has passed the fixed conversion period from non-organic to organic farming during which the provisions concerning organic production were applied, and will continue to be applied. After the conversion period, the production can be labelled as organic. Heifers – female bovine animals who have not yet calved and who are not included under calves and young cattle. Livestock unit (LSU) – a standard measurement unit that allows the aggregation of various kinds of livestock and poultry. Livestock units are defined on the basis of the feed requirements of individual animal categories. A dairy cow corresponds to one livestock unit, the coefficients of other animals are smaller (e.g. bovine animal – 0.8; fattening pig – 0.3; broiler – 0.007). The coefficients of livestock units are stated with EU Parliament and Council regulation No 2018/1091. Meat production – meat of animals sold to meat production and processing enterprises (slaughterhouses) or to buyers for slaughter, incl. for export (from Estonia to third countries as well as to other European Union countries), and meat of animals slaughtered in slaughterhouses belonging to holdings or slaughtered elsewhere as a service. Mutton and goats meat – the weight of a slaughtered sheep or goat’s cooled body after having been skinned, bled and eviscerated (except the kidneys, kidney fats), and after removal of the head (separated at the atloido-occipital joint), of the feet (severed at the carpo-metacarpal or tarsometatarsal joints), of the tail (severed between the sixth and seventh caudal vertebrae) and of the genital organs (including udder). Offal – heart, pulmones, liver and tongue (excl. tongue of sheep and goat). Organic farming – sustainable production of agricultural produce, which maintains basic equilibrium and which is carried out in compliance with the Organic Farming Act and with other relevant legislation. Holdings with organic production have the approval of the Agriculture anf Food Board (either fully compliant with the principles of organic production or still in a conversion period). Other cows – cattle for fattening, suckler cow, cow of a beef breed. Pig-meat – the weight of a slaughtered pig’s cooled body after having been bled and eviscerated and after removal of kidneys and flare fat, the bristles, the genital organs, the tongue, the diaphragm and the hooves. Poultry – domestic birds of any species. Purchase – animals and poultry purchased from Estonian agricultural producers. Value – purchase price, excluding the value added tax. | |
Agricultural holding Enterprise | |
Agricultural holdings with farm animals Keepers of fur animals Meat processing establishments approved by the Agriculture and Food Board FRAME List of agricultural holdings with farm animals. The list is generated from the statistical register of agricultural holdings. List of units with fur animals generated from the statistical register of agricultural holdings List of approved meat processing establishments compiled by the Agriculture and Food Board | |
Estonia as a whole Counties – only data on agricultural holdings | |
Yearly data about livestock and poultry 1980–… Quarterly data about livestock and poultry and monthly data about purchase of livestock and poultry 2004–… Data about livestock and poultry slaughtered in approved meat processing establishments 2008–… Organic livestock farming 2013–… | |
Not applicable |
DIRECTLY APPLICABLE LEGAL ACTS Regulation (EC) No 1165/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 concerning livestock and meat statistics and repealing Council Directives 93/23/EEC, 93/24/EEC and 93/25/EEC Council Directive 96/16/EC of 19 March 1996 on statistical surveys of milk and milk products Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 December 2003 on the economic accounts for agriculture in the Community Commission Regulation (EC) No 889/2008 of 5 September 2008 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products with regard to organic production, labelling and control Commission Regulation (EC) No 617/2008 of 27 June 2008 laying down detailed rules for implementing Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 as regards marketing standards for eggs for hatching and farmyard poultry chicks OTHER LEGAL ACTS 97/80/EC: Commission Decision of 18 December 1996 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Directive 96/16/EC on statistical surveys of milk and milk products OTHER AGREEMENTS Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) |
The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 32, § 34, § 35, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act. | |
The treatment of confidential data is regulated by the Procedure for Protection of Data Collected and Processed by Statistics Estonia (in Estonian). See more details on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section Õigusaktid. |
Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on the website. Every year on 1 October, the release times of the statistical database, news releases, main indicators by IMF SDDS and publications for the following year are announced in the release calendar (in the case of publications – the release month). | |
All users have been granted equal access to official statistics: dissemination dates of official statistics are announced in advance and no user category (incl. Eurostat, state authorities and mass media) is provided access to official statistics before other users. Official statistics are first published in the statistical database. If there is also a news release, it is published simultaneously with data in the statistical database. Official statistics are available on the website at 8:00 a.m. on the date announced in the release calendar. |
The news release “Livestock farming” once a year. The news release can be viewed on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section Uudiskiri (in Estonian). | |
Not published | |
Data are published in the statistical database at https://andmed.stat.ee/en/stat under the subject area “Economy / Agriculture / Agricultural production / Livestock production” in the following tables: PM09: Livestock and poultry by county (quarters) PM10: Livestock production by county (quarters) PM12: Livestock and poultry productivity by county (quarters) PM161: Livestock production per inhabitant PM190: Slaughtered animals in approved meat establishments and meat received (months) PM192: Purchase of cattle, pigs, sheep and goats (months) PM197: Certified organic livestock and production thereof | |
The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 33, § 34, § 35, § 36, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act. Access to microdata and anonymisation of microdata are regulated by Statistics Estonia’s procedure for dissemination of confidential data for scientific purposes. | |
Data serve as input for statistical activities 21206 “Purchase and use of milk”, 21207 “Economic accounts for agriculture”, 21209 “Statistical register of agricultural holdings” and 21213 “Supply balance sheets of agricultural products”. | |
Regulation (EC) No 1165/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 concerning livestock and meat statistics and repealing Council Directives 93/23/EEC, 93/24/EEC and 93/25/EEC http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32008R1165:EN:NOT Commission Regulation (EC) No 617/2008 of 27 June 2008 laying down detailed rules for implementing Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 as regards marketing standards for eggs for hatching and farmyard poultry chicks http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:168:0005:0016:EN:PDF Data collection on organic farming statistics. Guidelines. Methodological notes | |
Pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1165/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, a report is compiled every three years describing the methodology applied and level of quality achieved. |
To assure the quality of processes and products, Statistics Estonia applies the EFQM Excellence Model, the European Statistics Code of Practice and the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (ESS QAF). Statistics Estonia is also guided by the requirements in § 7. “Principles and quality criteria of producing official statistics” of the Official Statistics Act. | |
Statistics Estonia performs all statistical activities according to an international model (Generic Statistical Business Process Model – GSBPM). According to the GSBPM, the final phase of statistical activities is overall evaluation using information gathered in each phase or sub-process; this information can take many forms, including feedback from users, process metadata, system metrics and suggestions from employees. This information is used to prepare the evaluation report which outlines all the quality problems related to the specific statistical activity and serves as input for improvement actions. |
Ministry of Rural Affairs | |
Since 1996, Statistics Estonia has conducted reputation and user satisfaction surveys. All results are available on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section User surveys. | |
Methodology and organisation are in compliance with the requirements of EU regulations. |
The type of survey and the data collection methods ensure sufficient coverage and timeliness. | |
The error due to probability sampling is estimated for all more important published indicators. Sampling errors are in accordance with the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 1165/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council. | |
An effort is made to reduce non-sampling errors through continous methodological improvements and survey process improvements, incl. through minimizing under- and overcoverage of the frame. |
The data of the number of livestock, animals slaughtered and their meat from approved meat processing establishments and certified organic livestock production are comparable with the data of other European Union countries, as common methodology is used. At the level of Estonia, the data are comparable for counties. | |
The data are comparable over time. Up to 2017, the data on the productivity of animals and poultry cover only agricultural holdings. | |
The data are closely related to other agricultural statistics. Cross-domain coherence is ensured by using the same indicators from different sources. The data on livestock production and buying-in prices serve as input for economic accounts for agriculture and the data on livestock production for supply balance sheets of agricultural products. Input data are received from the Agricultural Registers and Information Board (ARIB), the Agriculture and Food Board and foreign trade statistics. | |
Internal coherence of data is ensured by using common methodology in data collection as well as data aggregation. Higher-level aggregate data are calculated based on detailed data according to pre-defined procedures. Meat production data are calculated. |
The data revision policy and notification of corrections are described in the section Principles of dissemination of official statistics of the website of Statistics Estonia. | |
The published data may be revised if the methodology is modified, errors are discovered, new or better data become available. |
SURVEY DATA For annual livestock and meat statistics, the populations and samples are compiled separately for each animal species. The questionnaires collect data annually from holdings with dairy cows and goats that are approved by the Agriculture and Food Board for the production of dairy products. Annual data about fur animals are collected from all units keeping fur animals. Data from the largest holdings with poultry (at least 500 poultry) are collected quarterly. Data about livestock purchases are collected from all meat processing establishments where slaughtering of animals is approved by the Agriculture and Food Board and which purchase animals. Data about hatcheries are collected monthly from all enterprises with hatcheries. ADMINISTRATIVE DATA Aggregate data for sheep wool and milk are obtained from the Agricultural Research Centre. Data about milk production per dairy cow are received from website of the Estonian Livestock Performance Recording Ltd. Data about organic livestock and their production are received from the organic farming register of the Agricultural and Food Board. Data about slaughtering’s and production of honey are also received from Agriculture and Food Board. The data about the number of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses and colonies of bees are received from the register of agricultural animals of the Estonian Agricultural Registers and Information Board; in the case of animals also the changes by types. DATA FROM OTHER STATISTICAL ACTIVITIES Data from statistical activities 21216 “Survey of agricultural small units” and 22303 “Foreign trade” (imports and exports of live animals) are used. | |
Annual Quarterly Monthly | |
Data are collected and the submission of questionnaires is monitored through eSTAT (the web channel for electronic data submission). The questionnaires have been designed for independent completion in eSTAT and include instructions and controls. The questionnaires and information about data submission are available on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section Questionnaires. Data are collected with several annual, quarterly and monthly statistical questionnaires. | |
Arithmetic and qualitative controls are used in the validation process, including comparison with the data of previous periods or other surveys and with administrative data sources. | |
For producing statistics of livestock farming, the administrative data and, in the absence thereof, survey based raw data are used. In addition, foreign trade data and, where necessary, model-based calculations are used. Data of agricultural holdings which have not submitted the report will be replaced by data of the previous period or mean data. Data on small units are estimated and updated every ten years on the basis of social survey data. Aggregate country data are obtained by aggregating data on holdings and small units. Variables which were not collected directly but which are necessary for producing the output are calculated. New variables are calculated by applying arithmetic conversion to already existing variables. This may be done repeatedly, the derived variable may, in turn, be based on previously derived new variables. Microdata are aggregated to the level necessary for analysis. This includes summation of data according to the classification and calculating various statistical measures, e.g. mean. The collected data are converted into statistical output. This includes calculating additional variables. | |
Not applied |