36% of dairy births in Cork and Tipperary

The number of calves born to dairy cows in 2022 increased by 30,918 head, or 2% on the previous year. The figure of 1,587,438 calves is contained in the Department of Agriculture’s Animal Identification and Movements annual report for 2022.

Cork remains by far the most dominant county in terms of dairy cows, with some 389,921 calves born to dairy cows in 2022.

This represents 24.5% of the national herd with 3,049 more calves born in Cork compared to 2021.

The greatest increase in numbers occurred, however, in Tipperary with birth registrations to dairy dams rising by 6,946 head to reach 186,572.

The two counties combined account for 36% of calf birth registrations in 2022. The size of the dairy herds in both counties combined have increased by in excess of 176,000 head since 2011.

There is a significant gap to the county with the next highest number of calves as reflected in Figure 1.

Limerick (121,330), Kilkenny (104,007) and Kerry (102,086) are the only other three counties with greater than 100,000 births registered to dairy dams in 2022.

Kerry

Incidentally, Kerry was only one of three counties to record a reduction in birth registrations in 2022 with births 35 head lower, while Clare recorded 375 fewer calves and Leitrim 34 fewer head.

Leitrim is the county with the fewest dairy cows with calf birth registrations of 2,124 in 2022 marginally lower than Dublin’s 2,396 head.

Suckler births down 21,707 head

There was a 50,000 swing in birth registrations to dairy and suckler dams in 2022.

Galway retains the largest suckler herd with 89,697 calves registered to beef dams in 2022, down 1,617 head on the previous year.

Births in Galway are in the region of 24,000 head higher than in Clare (65,698) and Mayo (65,558).

Both counties also recorded a significant reduction in births of 1,344 head and 1,621 head, respectively. In contrast to dairy births, registrations to suckler cows fell in every county in 2022.

There have been sizeable reductions since 2011 with birth registrations to beef dams down 17,709 in Tipperary (45,009), 14,602 in Cork (62,365), 11,131 in Galway and 10,383 in Kilkenny (25,670).