The Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM) says that there has been a decline in suckler cow numbers with the figure at 142,000 in Ireland compared to the same period five years ago. The figures were part of data released by DAFM.
The department figures show that a total of 863,882 beef-sired (suckler) cows were in the country on 1 February 2022, whereas the number stood at 1,006,179 on 1 February 2017. This represented a decline of 142,297 suckler cows in five years.
The comparison reflects the current declining trend in the Irish suckler cow herd, despite the number varying significantly on a monthly basis.
Meanwhile, the number of dairy cows in Ireland has increased by over 224,000 head in the same time period. On February 1, 2017, there were a total of 1,317,146 dairy cows in Ireland. The number of dairy cows had increased to 1,541,372 on February 1, this year, department figures show.
The department figures additionally reveal that there was a total of 6.66 million cattle in Ireland on 1 February, this year. This figure is up marginally from the 6.53 million cattle in the country on the same date five years ago.
The number of cattle traded at Irish marts in the first two months of this year has also increased by 15,000, from 65,000 cattle sold at Irish marts in January 2020 to over 80,000 sold in January 2021, according to DAFM figures. February also witnessed an increase in numbers of cattle sold at marts, with almost 131,500 cattle sold at marts in February this year. This figure is up by over 23,000 cattle on the same month last year.