The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) has released a map outlining the total number of cattle in each county in Ireland based on June 1, 2021 figures.
The figures are broken down on a county-by-county basis and include all bovine animals in each county.
The figures come as the trend of falling suckler cow numbers continues, and dairy cow numbers continue to rise in most counties.
The map below gives an overview of the overall number of cattle in each county on June 1, 2021.
Looking at the map above, we can see that the county with the most cattle by far is Co. Cork, with 1,078,532 head of cattle.
To put this into context, Co. Cork has more cattle than counties Cavan, Monaghan, Louth, Meath and Westmeath combined.
While Co. Cork has the highest number of dairy cows, it also has the third-highest number of suckler cows; however, as suckler cow numbers are continuing to fall, dairy cow numbers are continuing to rise.
The county with the second-highest number of cattle and just short of 400,000 head fewer than the Rebel county is the Premier county – Tipperary.
Co. Tipperary had a total of 678,984 cattle in the county on June 1, this year.
The county with the third-highest number of cattle is Galway. With 243,641 fewer than Tipperary, Co. Galway had a modest 435,343 cattle in the county on June 1.
The fourth-highest cattle population is in Co. Limerick, while Co. Kilkenny takes fifth place.
Unsurprisingly, Dublin has the fewest cattle in Ireland, followed by Co. Leitrim with the second fewest and by Co. Louth in third place. All three counties have fewer than 100,000 cattle.