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Beef cattle originating from the dairy herd accounted for 40% of the total prime cattle kill in 2018, maintaining a 1% year-on-year increase over the last three years.
This means that more than one in three prime animals processed at NI meat plants had a dairy dam.
Within the overall figure there were 91,000 beef x dairy animals slaughtered in 2018, which is 27% of the kill.
That was a 3% increase on 2017 and 5% increase on 2016.
However, there was a drop in the percentage of pure dairy bred cattle processed last year.
They accounted for 13% of the beef kill in 2018, down from 15% in 2017.
Native breeds
As the percentage of beef-sired dairy cross animals increases, so too does the number of Angus-sired beef cattle.
In 2018, a total of 17% of all prime cattle processed had an Angus sire, which equates to approximately 57,300 animals, an increase of 1% on 2017 and 3% on 2016.
Angus-sired animals accounted for 21% of prime heifers processed last year and 18% of prime steers.
The percentage of Hereford sired cattle is also increasing year on year, although from a much lower base.
Last year, 7% of the prime cattle kill were Hereford-bred, a 2% increase on the previous year.
Most animals originate from a dairy dam.
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