Based on figures released by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), 65% of the calves born in 2022 were born to dairy dams.
This means that some 1,587,438 calves were born to dairy dams, while 853,456 calves were born to beef dams.
For calves born to beef dams this is a decrease of 2.5% compared to 2021 and a 2% increase for the calves born to dairy dams.
Overall calf births increased by 0.38% from 2021 to 2022, with 2,431,683 born in 2021 and 2,440,894 born in 2022.
Calves born in 2022
In only nine of the 26 counties there were more calves born to beef dams in 2022, based on the Animal Identification and Movement (AIMS) data.
The table below uses the dam breed to define whether they are classified as a beef or dairy animal, so some of these calves will have a beef sire.
However, the data shows that in 17 counties, more calves were born to dairy dams than beef, with Co. Cork having 327,556 more calves born to dairy dams than beef.
In seven counties there were more beef calves born, with Co. Roscommon having 35,491 more calves born to beef dams than dairy dams and Co. Leitrim having 21,565 more calves born to beef dams.
Calf births
Based on the latest Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) data some 2,016,856 calves have been registered in 2023 to date.
The AIMS data from DAFM shows that a total of 2,440,894 calves were born on Irish farms in 2022.
There were 840,050 calves born in 2022 sired by a Friesian sire, while 1,493,753 calves were born to Friesian dams in the same period.
For the beef dams, Limousin cows had the most number of calves born at 285,658, while Angus was the most popular beef sire with 437,197 calves born.
As already stated, the most popular breed for the use of dairy dams was Friesian with 830,059 cows served or bred to a Friesian sire from a total of 1,587,438 served to dairy dams in total; this accounts for 52.3% of the total number.
The second-most-popular breed used on dairy dams was Angus with 21.6%, followed by Hereford at 13%.
The data also shows that February was the month with the most calves born, which matches the spring-calving pattern operated on many farms.
March and April come in second and third place for the number of calves born.
Over 400,000 dairy-sired calves were born in February, with this number more than halving for March to below 200,000 head.
Beef-sired calves were just over 200,000 head in February but increased to just over 350,000 in March and just over 300,000 in April.
This is likely due to the increase in beef semen used on dairy farms after the first few weeks of breeding.