Cyprus - Animal husbandry

Grazing land for livestock covers about 1,100 ha (2,700 acres). Animal husbandry contributes about one-third of total agricultural production. Output of pork, poultry, and eggs meets domestic demand, but beef and mutton are imported. Sheep and goats, which feed upon rough grazing land unsuitable for cultivation, provide most of the milk products. In 2001, sheep numbered about 246,000, hogs 413,800, and goats 378,600.

Indigenous cattle, kept primarily as draft animals, are decreasing with the advance of farm mechanization. There is no indigenous breed of dairy cattle, but near main towns, dairy stock, mostly shorthorns, are kept under stall-fed conditions, and Friesian cattle have been imported from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Cattle numbered about 54,200 in 2001.

Livestock products in 2001 included 50,700 tons of pork, 34,000 tons of poultry meat, 141,500 tons of milk, and 11,000 tons of eggs.