The number of dairy calves born last year rose by 44,882, while suckler beef calf numbers dropped by over 19,000, according to the latest statistics from the Department of Agriculture.

Despite the drop in beef numbers, overall calf numbers increased to over 2.3m, with almost 1.4m dairy bred calves and just over 975,000 suckler calves on the ground in 2017.

Early reports from ICBF indicate that the trend is continuing this year, with dairy calf registrations consistently outstripping suckler registrations.

Dairy calves continue to dominate the makeup of births in counties in the south of the country, with Cork, Tipperary and Limerick holding the highest number of dairy births.

Some 358,243 calves were born to dairy cows in Cork last year, compared with just 71,593 beef calves.

Cork also had the highest number of combined dairy and suckler calves born per county, holding a 18.3% share of total calf births in Ireland.

Sucklers

Western counties continue to remain a stronghold of the suckler sector, with Galway producing the highest number of beef calves – 98,947 on the ground last year.

This was followed by Mayo with 72,391, Cork with 71,593 and Clare with 69,270 beef calves.

Overall, the number of calves born in Ireland per year has increased by 11% since 2013, but this has been driven by dairy births, with suckler births consistently dropping.

The use of Hereford and Angus bulls in the dairy industry has also seen a surge in the number of dairy-cross calves born last year.

The number of calves born to Hereford sires increased by 15% last year to 243,196 and the number of calves registered to Angus sires increased by 11% to 387,488.

The Jersey breed saw over 20% more calves on the ground compared with 2016.

The overall figure remains relatively low, however, with just 29,336 Jersey calves born compared with 726,723 Friesian calves in 2017.

Interestingly, almost 44,000 fewer calves were born to Friesian sires last year, indicating that dairy births are being driven by dairy-cross calves.

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