Türkiye’s livestock population continued to grow in 2025. According to official data from TurkStat, cattle numbers increased by 4.3%, while the number of small ruminants rose by 5.4%. The growth stands out as it came despite a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak during the year.

The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) released its Livestock Production Statistics for 2025. Accordingly, the number of cattle rose by 4.3% year-on-year to 17.709 million head. Within this category, the number of cattle increased by 4.3% to 17.544 million head, while buffalo numbers rose by 1.7% to 164,785 head.

Based on statistics collected by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and published by TurkStat, the number of small ruminants also increased by 5.4% over the same period, reaching 57.874 million head. Sheep numbers rose by 5.9% to 46.689 million head, while goat numbers increased by 3.4% to 11.186 million head.

Last year, particularly after the Eid al-Adha period, a FMD outbreak spread rapidly across the country, leading to the closure of livestock markets and widespread quarantine measures. The outbreak caused not only live animal losses but also significant production and productivity losses. Against this backdrop, the increase reflected in official livestock statistics stands out as a notable development.