The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed that over 1 million cattle were sold in marts around the country by the end of July this year.
Over the first seven months of 2024, 1,078,955 cattle were sold in marts, which is up 5% or 20,000 head on the same period last year.
Of the total 1,132,213 cattle sent to marts up to the end of July, 53,258 were returned home.
The data, published by the department, also shows that 570,759 cattle were sent to marts in Munster with 550,716 sold and just over 20,000 returned home.
248,663 out of the 261,728 cattle sent to marts across Leinster were sold, while 176,648 head were sold in Connaught marts, from a total of 190,472.
In Ulster, almost 103,000 out of 109,254 cattle were sold over the seven month period.
DAFM
The data also shows that 942,330 farm-to-farm movements of cattle have been recorded between January and the end of July this year.
This is down by over 42,000 head when compared to the same period in 2023.
Some 465,854 farm to farm movements happened in Munster by the end of July this year.
There were 289,153 farm-to-farm movements in Leinster, 115,482 in Connaught and 71,841 in Ulster during the seven-month period.
The department noted that these movements are recorded by the province that the seller of the animals is located in.
March has been the busiest month so far this year in terms of farm-to-farm movements with almost 249,000 recorded.
According to the department’s live export figures, 268,157 cattle have been exported from Ireland in the first seven months of 2024, up from just over 259,000 animals exported in the same period last year.
There were just over 164,000 beef cattle and 103,539 dairy animals exported in that period.
March recorded the highest number of live cattle exports at 67,534, the majority of those (over 45,000) coming from the dairy herd.