Seoul:<Text>

The number of beef cattle in South Korean farms has experienced a decline in the first quarter, primarily driven by a sustained decrease in the population of fertile cows, as revealed by government data on Friday. South Korean farms were reported to have raised 3.22 million beef cattle as of March 1, marking a 4.9 percent decrease from the same period in the previous year.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the Ministry of Data and Statistics compiled the data, which also indicated a 1.7 percent decrease in the number of milk cows, bringing the total to 371,000. Additionally, the pig population in the country saw a marginal decrease of 0.7 percent, totaling 10.7 million. The duck population experienced a more substantial contraction of 15.9 percent, with numbers dropping to 5.3 million.

The number of layer chickens also saw a decline of 0.3 percent from the previous year, totaling 77.8 million. This decline was attributed to the culling of many lay er chickens in response to the avian influenza epidemic, as noted by the ministry. Conversely, the number of broiler chickens increased by 2.7 percent, reaching 96.5 million.