The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation’s (ICBF’s) latest calf registration statistics show that the number of suckler-bred calvings to date this year has fallen by over 24,000 head.
According to ICBF, the number of suckler-bred calves registered this year (as of December 9) stands at 802,107.
In the same time period last year, that figure was 826,320, marking a decline of 24,213 head to date this year.
Meanwhile, the number of calves born on dairy farms continues to grow, with 1,582,950 calves registered on dairy farms to date this year.
This figure has increased by almost 27,000 head on the 1,555,971 head of calves registered on dairy farms in the same time period last year.
Calvings
In total, 2,385,057 calves have been registerd in Ireland to date this year. This figure is only up by a marginal 2,766 head on the same time period last year.
While the number of suckler calves born this year has fallen and the number of dairy-bred calves born this year is growing, the overall number of calves born to date has remained relatively steady; the fall in suckler calvings is offsetting the rise in dairy calvings.
Suckler-bred calves account for 33.6% of all the calves born to date in 2022.
To put this into perspective, in 2012 – just 10 years ago – suckler calvings accounted for just over half (50.7%) of the calves born in Ireland.
There has been a drastic change in the composition of the cattle herd in Ireland over the past decade as more farmers have decided to transition to dairy farming since the abolition of milk quotas in Ireland.