Sources

1. 1

   The number of farms with livestock has fallen sharply, and the closing down or relocation of grazing animals from pasture has led to the overgrowth of extensive areas of semi-natural pasture (p. 17). Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket), Underlag till styrmedelsanalyser för att hejda förlusten av biologisk mångfald i odlingslandskapet [Basis for policy-instrument analyses to halt the loss of biodiversity in the agricultural landscape], memo 2022-04-20, case number NV-07370-21. Published 2022.

2. 2

   Grazing land and hay meadow in Sweden: 452,087 hectares, of which 370,797 hectares are grazing land. Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket) statistics database, table JO0104B6. Statistical year 2025.

3. 3

   Cattle in Sweden: 1,344,515 in December 2025 and 1,399,565 in June 2025. Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket), tables JO0111H01 and JO0103F01. Statistical year 2025.

4. 4

   Grazing land 1,500,000 hectares in 1927 and 450,000 hectares in 2016. Hay meadow 526,000 and 9,000 hectares respectively. Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket), Report 2019:1, table 1. Published 2019.

5. 5

   Virtual electric fences permitted outdoors for cattle and sheep from 1 January 2026. SFS 2025:948, amendment to the Animal Welfare Ordinance (2019:66) [djurskyddsförordningen], ch. 2, sec. 17. In force from 1 January 2026.

The source documents are in Swedish. The descriptions here are translated by Beterra.