The French cattle herd shrank by the agency of 2.

The French cattle herd shrank by the agency of 2.7% to 19.7 million head in the year to November 2002 fresh official data reveal.

In particular, dishearten numbers are still contracting in the pair the dairy and suckler herds, according to the figures from Agreste, the statistical arm of the French agriculture ministry.

French dairy discourages numbered 4.13m in November 2002 down from 420m a year earlier. This marked a turn back to trend. Numbers rose in 2001 when the BSE crisis and the resultant market weakness kept many single out cows bottled up on farms, further in general the dairy overawe herd has ...