44% of calf exports from Ireland this year were sired by beef-breed bulls, while 56% of the calves exported were bred from dairy-breed bulls.
Latest figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) show that as of Sunday, July 9, over 200,000 calves had been exported from Ireland this year.
Irish calf exports are up 22% on figures from the same time period last year when 164,411 Irish calves had been exported.
The table below shows the percentage of beef and dairy-sired calves exported to the main Irish calf-export markets this year:
Beef-sired calves Dairy-sired calves Netherlands 38% 62% Spain 53% 47% Italy 29% 71% Poland 67% 33% Northern Ireland 58% 42% Romania 81% 19% Hungary 100% 0% Other 100% 0% Total 44% 56%
As the table above indicates, a significant portion of the calves being exported from the dairy herd are beef-sired calves.
The Netherlands has been the largest purchaser of Irish calves this year and 62% of the Irish calves exported to the country this year were dairy-sired calves with the remainder being beef-sired calves.
71% of the Irish calves exported to Italy are dairy-sired calves with the remaining 29% being beef-sired calves.
Meanwhile, the majority of Irish calves exported to Spain, Poland, Northern Ireland, Romania, Hungary and other countries are beef-sired calves from the Irish dairy herd.
As can be seen from the table above, the number of calves and weanlings exported has increased by 22% and 31% respectively, while the number of store and adult cattle exported has fallen by 18% and 4% respectively. Overall cattle exports have increased by 17%.