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The wet conditions experienced in the autumn of 2017, which followed through into a late spring in 2018, have had a negative impact on numbers in the main livestock sectors and on the area of winter crops grown in NI.
The latest estimates for both livestock numbers and the area of crops grown are included in the preliminary June 2018 census results published by DAERA last week.
This data shows that with fodder stocks tight, overall cattle and sheep numbers were both down 2%. However, perhaps most notable was the further contraction in the cereal area, which has fallen to 31,300ha, down 3% on 2017 and is 6,500ha lower than in 2010.
With data going back to 1847, the area dedicated to cereals in 2018 is the lowest ever recorded in NI.
Within this year’s figure of 31,300, the mix of winter and spring crops has shifted given the difficulties getting crops planted last autumn.
Winter wheat and winter barley are down 13% and 12% respectively, while spring barley is up 8% and now accounts for nearly half of all cereal crops grown. With the overall cereal area down 1,000ha this year, some of this land has instead been diverted to crop silage and maize. Both are up 11% to 4,000ha and 1,500ha respectively, as livestock producers look to replenish forage stocks this year.
Cattle
In terms of cattle, both dairy and beef cow numbers are at the lowest seen since 2014.
In June there were 310,700 dairy cows on NI farms, down from 315,800 last year.
However, the current dairy herd is still well ahead of the total from the 1980s, right through to 2013 when numbers were generally stable around the 280,000 mark.
The situation is different in the suckler sector, where the total herd was at 255,900 in 2018, the second lowest total recorded in the last 29 years and only slightly ahead of the lowest mark of 254,870 from 2014.
With in-calf beef heifer numbers down 4% this year, there is little to suggest a recovery in numbers will happen in the short term.
While the suckler herd has been under pressure in recent years, sheep numbers have showed an upward trend.
That has halted slightly this year, with ewe numbers down 1% year on year to 962,600, although it is still the second biggest ewe flock recorded in NI since 2006.
In terms of the intensive sector, it continues to play an increasingly important role in maintaining output from NI agriculture.
Poultry numbers have increased again, with laying bird numbers recorded in June 2018 up 5% to 4.17m, and broilers and other table birds up 2% to just over 17m.
The pig sector has also seen growth, with 49,900 sows and gilts in-pig on-farm in June 2018, the largest breeding herd recorded in the June census since the industry suffered a major downturn in the late 1990s.
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