The number of livestock in South Korea fell on-year in the first quarter of 2015 due to the spread of animal diseases and fewer calves being bred, government data showed Friday.

The data by Statistics Korea revealed there were just under 2.66 million cattle in the country, down 3.6 percent or 101,000 head from the previous quarter. Pigs were down 119,000 or 1.2 percent on-quarter.

The office said the number of cattle was also down 5.4 percent from a year earlier, while that for pigs gained 2.8 percent.

The drop in cattle was caused by fewer calves being bred at farms. The total stood at 130,000 in the first quarter vis-a-vis 146,000 in the October-December period.

The data showed that lower numbers in calves can be attributed to old milk cows dying out amid moves by dairy farms to reduce output. There were 6,000 fewer milk cows in the country in the January-March period compared to the previous quarter.

The office said foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks resulted in the fall in the number of pigs. The data showed some 111,000 pigs were culled because of the highly contagious FMD from December through February.

Compared to the year before, the steady rise in prices caused more sows to be bred, which pushed up overall numbers.

The number chickens in the country rose 1.8 percent in the first three months of 2015 from the previous quarter, with that for ducks also gaining 1.9 percent. As of late March, there were some

68.88 million chickens in the country and 7.68 ducks, according to the data. (Yonhap)