Calf birth registrations in NI totalled 528,950 during 2020, an increase of 6,478, or 1.2% on the 522,472 births registered in 2019, figures reported by the LMC show.

Calves registered to a beef sire came to 358,334, a rise of 9,487 or 2.7% on the year.

For the first time since 2016, there was an increase in the number registered to suckler cows, which rose by 1.5%. Suckler bred calf births accounted for 63% of all beef registrations.

Aberdeen Angus overtook Limousin as the most common beef sire, accounting for 25.4% of beef calf births in 2020, up 1.7% on the year.