Total calf births registered this year surpassed the 2m mark on Friday last 18 June, up over 30,000 on the same period last year.

According to the ICBF, the makeup of these figures differs greatly from last year, with 18,500 fewer beef calf registrations while dairy calf registrations are up over 48,500 in the same time period.

This means beef calves account for just under 30% or 592,072 calf registrations while dairy calf registrations account for over 70% or more than 1.4m calves.

Pedigree registrations have also increased, with the year-to-date figures showing an additional 4,500 registrations compared to the same period last year.