Livestock

NOTES ON METHODOLOGY

Sources and methods of data collection

Data on livestock were collected separately for business entities and parts thereof and for private family farms. These surveys serve for collecting data on the number and weight of livestock and poultry, balance of cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and poultry, balance of eggs, balance of milk produced on private family farms, production of cows’, sheep’s and goats’ milk, wool and eggs.

Data on business entities are collected on reports, which are then submitted by post to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. Since 2016, they have also been collected via a web application, which makes it possible for reporting units to fill in data themselves.

Data on private family farms were collected by using the interview method (computer-assisted telephone interviewing) applied to a selected stratified sample.

Expanded data have been compared to data from previous years and to available administrative sources (the Single Register of Domestic Animals kept by the Ministry of Agriculture). On the basis of all available data, corrections were done, if needed.

The methodology for carrying out the livestock survey is based on the Regulation (EC) No. 1165/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 concerning livestock and meat statistics, the Commission Regulation (EC) No. 617/2008 of 27 June 2008 laying down detailed rules for implementing Regulation (EC) No. 1234/2007 as regarding marketing standards for eggs for hatching and farmyard poultry chicks and the Methodological Basis for Gathering Data on Milk and Dairy Products Statistics (NN, No. 42/13).

Data on the production of honey are taken over from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Croatian Beekeepers Federation as administrative data sources.

Coverage and comparability

Reporting units are business entities and parts thereof, which are classified in section A Agriculture, forestry and fishing according to the National Classification of Activities, 2007 version (NN, Nos 58/07 and 72/07), as well as other business entities and parts thereof engaged in agricultural production, which are classified elsewhere.

Reporting units are also private family farms engaged in the production of livestock and poultry.

Since 2010, the Livestock Survey has been carried out on a sample at NUTS 2 level. The sample is selected from the Statistical Register of Agricultural Holdings.

Until 2006, the reference date for the number of livestock and poultry was 31 December of the previous year for legal entities and 15 January of the current year for private family farms. In order to enable the harmonisation with the EU methodology, the monitoring date has been changed to 1 December of the current year for both legal entities and private family farms and the recalculation has been made for some livestock categories for the period from 2000 to 2006.

In 2022, the reference monitoring date was changed from 1 December to 1 November of the current year.

Definitions

Bovine animals less than one year old include calves for slaughter and other young cattle (male and female).

Bovine animals aged between one and two years include male and female animals for slaughter and breeding. Cattle that are already calved are included into Cows category.

Bovine animals over two years include heifers, cows (including younger than two years) and male animals for breeding and slaughter.

Cows are female bovine animals that have already calved.

Heifers are selected female bovine animals that have not calved yet.

Sows are female breeding animals that have farrowed for at least once.

Mated sows are female breeding animals that have already farrowed and are expected to farrow again.

Gilts are selected young female breeding animals that have not farrowed yet.

Mated gilts are young female breeding animals that are expected to farrow for the first time.

Boars are male breeding animals.

Poultry includes broilers, hens, turkeys, geese, ducks and other poultry.

Increase in cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry was calculated by adding a difference in the weights of export and import to the weight of slaughtered livestock and the difference in the weight of the herd at the end and at the beginning of a reference period.

Milk. The production of cows’, sheep’s and goats’ milk at legal entities as well as on private family farms is presented. The total milked quantity in a reference period is presented, irrespective of the milking method.

Egg production. Data on the total number of eggs laid by all categories of hens and other kinds of poultry were reported. Eggs for setting and eggs for human consumption) are included.

Trimmed wool. Quantities of trimmed (clipped) wool from grown up sheep and tags (matted and cropped wool) were reported as raw wool.