[Structure of the domestic animal stock in the old jurisdictions of the Federal Republic of Germany].

After a short review of the size structure and the regional distribution of livestock holdings with cattle, pigs and poultry, the significance and distribution of those livestock holdings are presented, which according to their size and their density are excluded from certain national income compensations to German farmers because they are classified as not belonging to the farm sector proper by agricultural policy authorities. Compared to neighbouring member countries of the EC, the significance of these livestock holdings seems rather small. The introduction of the milk quota regime and the exclusion of larger livestock holdings from certain income compensations have retarded the process of structural change in livestock keeping since the middle of the 1980s. Among factors influencing the future development of the structure of livestock holdings, scientific and technical innovations in livestock breeding and husbandry as well as developments in the distribution of food will prevailingly intensify the tendencies of continuing concentration processes in livestock holdings whereas environmental legislation and agricultural price and market policies will probably counteract these tendencies.