The Northern Ireland dairy herd increased 2% to 317,100 head from June 2015 to June 2016, figures from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) have revealed.

This increase bring the North’s dairy herd to an all-time high.

Total cattle numbers were up 3% on June last year, with the number of beef cows increasing by 4% to 269,700.

Livestock figures increased across the board, with a 1% rise in the number of breeding ewes and lamb numbers up 2%. This brought the overall number of sheep to over two million, levels not seen in nine years. Numbers have fluctuated in recent years, falling to a 20-year low of 876,000 in 2010.

The pig and poultry herd also expanded, with the overall pig herd now 4% larger and laying birds up 20% to 3.8m.

Tillage

In tillage sector, cereals were up 2% to 33,600ha, with winter wheat, winter barley and oats all increasing in 2016. Spring barley fell by 3% but still remains the most popular cereal crop, with 15,200ha planted across Northern Ireland.

Meanwhile, other field crops dropped 4%, which DAERA says is partly due to a reduction in the areas planted under arable crop silage and forage maize.

Arable crop silage fell by 5% to 3,100ha, whereas, the area of forage maize fell by 8% to 1,400ha, which follows a downward trend since 2008.

The area of potatoes expanded by 4% to 3,700ha, which was a slight recovery on the all-time low for the crop recorded in 2015.

Workforce

The agricultural labour force fell by 1% on the previous year to 47,400. Within this figure, farmer numbers decreased by 2% to 29,500, with declines in both full-time and part-time farmers. With regards to other full-time workers, there was a 5% fall in both paid and unpaid categories compared with 2015.

The full report will be published in November 2016.

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