In May of this year, AgriLand looked at the total number of suckler calves born in 2020. At that time, suckler-bred calf registrations were on the up when compared to the same period in 2019.
But, where do they stand now?
Looking at data from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), this trend has continued, but the gap in registrations has narrowed.
Up until Friday, May 15, there were 490,887 calves registered to suckler cows in Ireland in 2020. This represented a 14,357 head increase on the total number of calves registered during the same period last year.
However, up until Friday, July 24, 683,565 calves had been registered to suckler cows – representing an increase of 6,610 head when compared to 2019 levels.
Looking at calf registrations in more detail, during the week ending July 24, some 9,947 beef calves were registered – back from 14,009 head for the same week in 2019.
Moving to dairy calf registrations, 3,498 dairy calves were registered during the week ending July 24 – a decrease of 1,809 head on the corresponding week in 2019.
Some 1.39 million dairy calves have been registered so far this year – an increase of 47,597 head when compared to the same period in 2019.
When combined, total calf registrations – both suckler and dairy – are running well ahead of last year’s levels at over 2,077,780 million head.