There are now three sheep for every person in Wales

There are now three times as many sheep in Wales as people, new figures show.

Data from annual census figures based on the June 2016 Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture revealed there are almost ten million sheep in the country.

According to the figures from Welsh farmers, there are 9,810,000 sheep, compared to just 3,026,000 people.

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There has been a rise of nearly two million more sheep in the valleys and mountains of Wales in the past seven years.

There has been a 3.2 per cent increase in sheep numbers in the past year.

However, the current figures aren’t quite a match for sheep numbers in Wales in the late 1990s, when there were 12 million.

Numbers declined to a low of about eight million before a new surge from 2009.

John Richards from Hybu Cig Cymru (Meat Promotion Wales), said: “There are still challenges for the lamb industry in Wales.

“Ensuring that everyone, including farmers and processors, get a good price for their product is vital, and means continuing to respond to changing customer demands.

“Political uncertainties around Brexit also mean that it’s difficult to predict accurately how the structure of future support payments and trade arrangements will affect livestock numbers.”