The number of dairy cows in the Republic of Ireland has been steadily increasing from 2013 up until last year, according to the latest report from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The findings were part of the CSO’s Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2020, which provides a “snapshot of life in Ireland based on statistics” compiled by the office.
In the yearbook, it was noted that the number of dairy cows increased by over 29% in the period 2013 to 2019.
In the years leading up to and since the abolition of the milk quota in 2015, a steady year-on-year increase in the number of dairy cows on Irish farms has been observed.
In 2019, Co. Cork had the largest number of dairy cows at 379,300 head while Co. Leitrim had the smallest number of dairy cows at 1,900 head.
As expected, southern counties had the most cows. After Cork, Tipperary, Limerick and Kerry accounted for 175,100, 118,800 and 101,600 head respectively.
On the other end of the scale, after Co. Leitrim, counties Dublin, Sligo and Roscommon would have the fewest dairy cows, with numbers of 2,900, 8,100 and 8,200 head respectively.
Turning to production, the domestic milk intake increased by just over 47% in the period 2013 to 2019.
Across the board, including calves, cows, bulls, steers and heifers of all breeds, there were 7.2 million cattle in Ireland in June 2019, down 1.9% on 2018, the CSO says.