Figures provided to Agriland by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) show that almost 500,000 cattle were purchased by livestock dealers and agents in 2023.
According to DAFM, the combined number of bovine moves into dealer herds and with agents recorded as a third party in 2023 totalled 489,975.
This was in increase of 22,874 on the number of cattle moves into dealer and agent herds in 2022.
Just over 464,000 (464,469) bovine moves into dealer herds were recorded in 2023 and just under 25,500 (25,478) bovine moves with agents recorded as a third party were recorded in 2023.
The table below details the number of bovine moves into dealer herds broken down by age category in 2022 and 2023:
Year Total Moves Under6 weeks 6weeks-6months 6months-12months 12months-18months 18months-24months 24months-30months Over 30 months 2022 441,290 202,264 43,400 86,660 53,759 25,891 9,177 20,137 2023 464,469 226,744 46,415 80,209 49,438 29,786 12,128 19,746
DAFM classifies livestock dealers and agents as “a natural or legal person who buys and sells animals commercially either directly or indirectly, who has regular turnover of these animals and who within a maximum of 30 days of buying animals, resells them or relocates them from the first premises to other premises not within his or her ownership”.
According to the DAFM website, in the case of cattle and sheep, a person who buys and resells within 30 days less than 100 head in any 12-month period will be excluded from the requirements to be approved as a dealer.
The table below outlines the number of bovine moves with agents recorded as a third party on the movement broken down by age category for 2022 and 2023:
Year Total moves Under6 weeks 6weeks-6months 6months-12months 12months-18months 18months-24months 24months-30months Over 30 months 2022 25,783 2,476 663 2,622 4,511 4,293 2,044 9,174 2023 25,478 2,361 676 2,257 3,644 4,513 2,122 9,905
The largest volumes of cattle purchases by dealers are calves six-weeks-of-age or under with 226,744 moves recorded in this category in 2023.
There are no ovine moves recorded in/out of dealer herds or with an agent specified as a third party, according to DAFM.