Canadian cattle herd at smallest level in 22 years

Cattle look out from their pen on a feedlot near Airdrie, Alta., on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005. (Jeff McIntosh / The Canadian Press)

The Canadian cattle herd continues to shrink, but the number of hogs has grown in the past year.

Statistics Canada says this country's farmers had 11.9 million cattle on their farms on Jan. 1.

That's down 2.5 per cent from a year ago, and the lowest number since January of 1993.

Hog producers had 13.2 million animals, which is up 1.7 per cent from a year ago.