A total of 195,360 Irish dairy calves were exported from Ireland in the first 25 weeks of 2023, according to the latest calf export figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
The number of calves exported from Ireland as of Sunday, June 25, or week 25 of 2023, has increased by 20% on the calf export figures from the same time period in 2022.
Over 50% of the calves that were exported from Ireland this year were sent to the Netherlands.
The table below gives an overview of the key destination markets for Irish calves in the first 25 weeks of 2021, 2022 and 2023:
As can be seen from the table above, 98% of the calves exported from Ireland this year went to one of five countries.
The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Poland and Northern Ireland respectively took the largest volumes of Irish calves with the Netherlands accounting for over 50% of Irish calf exports.
The largest growth in Irish calf exports has been seen in the Polish market, with calf exports to the country increasing by 376% or 9,500 head to 12,043 head of calves in the first 25 weeks of this year.
Irish calf exports to Italy, Northern Ireland and Spain are up by 62%, 41% and 7% respectively.
The table below gives an overview of Irish cattle export numbers in the first 25 weeks of this year:
Previously, 2019 was a record year for calf exports with approximately 200,000 calves exported in total that year. While the peak Irish calf export season has passed, current figures would suggest 2023 numbers will surpass 2019 calf export numbers.
The number of weanlings exported to date this year has also increased with 16,773 weanling cattle exported in the first 25 weeks this year, up 30% on 2022 levels.
Store and adult cattle exports have both fallen in numbers this year with 13,719 and 17,596 cattle exported in these categories respectively.