Data from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) shows that up until December 29, 2023, there were 41,979 less calf registrations on Irish farms in comparison to 2022.
Based on the data, 2,408,583 calves were registered on Irish farms in 2022. This dropped to 2,366,604 in 2023.
For the same period in 2021, the total number of registered births stood at 2,408,657 head.
Beef
The drop in calf registrations can be attributed to a considerable deduction in beef births, with 60,331 fever births compared to the same period in 2022.
Based on the ICBF data, a total of 754,611 calves were registered, or born to beef dams in 2023.
For the same period in 2022, it stood at 814,942, while on December 30, 2021, there had been 840,455 calves registered to beef dams.
Based on figure for 2021, the total number of calves registered to beef dams has fallen by 85,844 head in 24 months.
This represents a 10.76% reduction in births to beef dams between 2021 and 2023.
Dairy
Moving to the dairy birth registrations, a total of 1,611,993 head were registered in 2023.
This is a slight increase of 18,352 head on the same period in 2022 when 1,593,641 calves had been registered on Irish dairy farms.
When compared to the same period in 2021, some 1,568,202 calves had been registered to dairy dams.
There has been an increase in calf births to dairy dams of 43,791 head – a 2.75% increase in the two year period.
Calf registrations
The trend in beef calf registrations is not new, with births from beef dams declining since before the removal of milk quotas in 2015.
Dairy births had been increasing in this period, but due to a number of challenges facing the sector and a natural levelling-off national herd, it appears to be stabilising.
We are now seeing a decline in overall registered births, as the beef decline surpasses the dairy increase.