Some 2,891 new herd numbers were registered to date in 2019, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed has confirmed.

There are currently 154,177 herd numbers active in the country, Minister Creed noted.

Responding to a parliamentary question on the matter from Longford-Westmeath TD Peter Burke, the minister gave a list of both new herd numbers registered per year and the number of herd numbers active at the end of each year, from 2011 through to 2018, and to date in 2019.

The table provided covers all species of animals and cereals.

Over the almost nine-year period, the largest figure of new herd numbers registered was recorded in 2012 – with some 8,473 granted this year.

This year is the lowest number thus far – though the 2019 figure could yet surpass last year’s 3,298 before the end of the year.

The amount of active herd numbers each year has seen a steady decrease since the 140,683 recorded in 2011, having climbed over 13,000 in the intervening years, though it should be remembered the 154,177 for 2019 could yet change before the new year.

A surge in new herd numbers seems to have taken place in the years between 2012 and 2015, before easing somewhat in 2016, going by the table of figures given by the minister.