The number of cattle sold at marts in Ireland amounted to over 1.8 million head (1,815,509) in 2022, an increase of 91,587 cattle on the number sold at marts in 2021.
The news comes as the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) recently published its final Animal Identification and Movement System (AIMS) figures for mart sales in 2022.
As the table below indicates, the highest number of cattle sold at marts was in March last year, with over 249,000 head of cattle sold in the month.
The table below shows the numbers of cattle sold and not sold at marts on a monthly basis for 2021 and 2022:
Month Cattle sold 2022 Cattle returned home 2022 (no sale) Cattle sold 2021 Cattle returned home 2021 (no sale) January 80,210 3,496 65,135 2,939 February 154,497 6,613 131,437 7,921 March 249,096 13,896 227,951 12,260 April 216,303 10,842 207,523 13,346 May 157,891 6,350 140,366 12,665 June 110,655 5,945 89,872 5,163 July 80,137 5,110 115,062 6,920 August 117,106 6,307 115,974 8,931 September 166,365 11,065 164,497 9,748 October 237,556 15,447 236,821 19,256 November 172,492 9,662 158,257 13,110 December 73,201 3,557 71,027 5,777 Totals 1,815,509 98,290 1,723,922 118,036 Cattle sold and not sold totals 1,913,799 1,841,958
As the table above indicates, there are three months of the year where over 200,000 head of cattle were sold – March, April and October.
Large volumes of calves appearing at marts in March and early April contributed significantly to these figures, and high volumes of store cattle coming off grass to be sold contributed significantly to the number of cattle sold at marts in October.
Cattle not sold at marts
The DAFM has also published figures for farm-to-farm sales or cattle that were sold privately (not through a mart).
The number of cattle traded privately has been decreasing since 2020. The introduction of online bidding at mart sales following the outbreak of Covid-19 has had a significant part to play in the growth of numbers of cattle being traded at the mart.
Just over 1.41 million cattle were sold privately in 2022. This figure is down by almost 128,800 head on the 1.54 million cattle sold privately in 2021.
Stay tuned to Agriland for further updates on the cattle trade.