Details on the number of sheep in each county have been released by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
This was through the publishing of the national sheep and goat census that was carried out in December 2023 and had responses from 41,592 herds, representing a response rate of 85%.
A breakdown of the locations of the 3,722,754 sheep in the country can be seen in the map below:
Donegal was the county with the highest number of sheep (526,658), accounting for approximately 14.15% of the sheep in the Republic of Ireland.
Dublin has the lowest number of sheep in the country, numbering just 18,437, which is 0.5% of the sheep recorded in the census.
A breakdown of the map can be seen in the table below:
County Ewes Rams Other Total Carlow 65,857 2,107 28,613 96,577 Cavan 54,828 2,277 25,542 82,647 Clare 17,700 803 7,934 26,437 Cork 117,409 3,247 41,434 162,090 Donegal 363,632 11,705 151,321 526,658 Dublin 18,328 638 5,498 24,464 Galway 273,822 8,608 124,958 407,388 Kerry 246,920 6,296 78,077 331,293 Kildare 67,603 2,278 32,038 101,919 Kilkenny 37,813 1,360 19,693 58,866 Laois 26,690 928 13,761 41,379 Leitrim 90,303 2,959 30,814 124,076 Limerick 12,304 411 5,722 18,437 Longford 26,987 919 12,864 40,770 Louth 36,057 1,205 17,896 55,158 Mayo 325,041 9,889 109,900 444,830 Meath 96,886 3,920 46,361 147,167 Monaghan 27,877 1,456 18,435 47,768 Offaly 39,300 1,548 21,760 62,608 Roscommon 116,164 3,741 50,603 170,508 Sligo 106,140 3,538 35,141 144,819 Tipperary 69,421 2,211 38,186 109,818 Waterford 44,878 1,452 16,425 62,755 Westmeath 53,910 1,928 22,954 78,792 Wexford 74,453 2,559 52,719 131,731 Wicklow 150,055 4,773 68,992 223,799 Total 2,562,378 82,756 1,077,641 3,722,754
The county with the fewest rams was Limerick with 411, while the highest number of rams was found in Donegal, with 11,705.
Limerick also had the fewest ewes in the country (12,304), with Donegal recording the most ewes (363,632).
In the other sheep category (including lambs, wethers, cull ewes), Donegal remained in the top spot with 151,321 recorded in the county, while Dublin had the lowest number (5,498).