After three years of growth the national ewe flock fell significantly, with 85,898 fewer ewes recorded in the Department of Agriculture December 2018 National Sheep and Goat Census. All bar three counties recorded a reduction in numbers.

Donegal continues its recent rise in dominance as the county possessing the largest sheep population, with ewe numbers rising 2,298 head to 345,520. Ewe numbers in Dublin increased by 622 head to 18,279, while Leitrim also recorded a marginal increase of 502 head to reach 80,521 ewes.

The 3.2% reduction in ewe numbers from the previous 12 months stemmed largely from farmers taking stock after a difficult year.

There were upwards of 50,000 extra ewes leaving flocks through a mixture of voluntary and involuntary culling, while the high hogget prices in spring 2018 also encouraged some farmers to cash in and draft higher numbers that could otherwise have been retained or carried forward to autumn breeding sales.

This is reflected in the average flock size reducing from 108 sheep in December 2017 to 106 sheep in December 2018. Kildare recorded the greatest slippage, with the average flock size reducing by 10 sheep to 163 head.

Despite this fall, it still remains the county with the second-highest average flock size – with Wicklow retaining top spot with an average flock size of 183 head, a reduction of four head on the year previous.

Kilkenny, Waterford and Meath also recorded a high reduction, with Kilkenny’s average sheep flock falling by nine head to 147, while Waterford and Meath’s average flock reduced by eight head to 152 and 135 respectively.

Largest sheep counties

Figure 1 details the ewe flock by county and the reduction on December 2017 levels.

In 2018, Galway, the county with the third-largest sheep flock, recorded a major fall-off in ewe numbers, down by 15,245 head to 277,536. This was driven by 112 flocks exiting sheep production in the previous 12-month period.

There were also high reductions of over 5,000 ewes in Meath (-7,878 head), Roscommon (-6,514), Kildare (-6,309), Wexford (-5,978) and Cork (-5,070).

The largest sheep counties, namely Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Kerry, Wicklow and Cork, possess 45% of the national ewe flock.

All these counties have a large land base, but more so what is underpinning the large flock size is significant hill enterprises and areas of marginal land that are more suited to sheep production.

There have been a number of large-scale flocks exiting sheep production in dairy strongholds, with some of these farms either transferring to dairying or linking up by means of renting land or contract-rearing dairy replacements. Tipperary recorded 72 fewer flocks, while Cork lost 46 flocks, Laois 45 flocks, Wexford and Meath 37, and Wicklow 36 flocks.

The drop in flock numbers comes after an increase of in excess of 1,000 flocks in the previous year. The counties with the largest ewe flocks have a wider range in flock size, with the average flock ranging between 80 and 100 sheep.

Small flocks dominate

It is a case of the sector being dominated by small flocks. There are 42% of flocks with fewer than 50 head of sheep, with a further 25% in the bracket of 51 to 100 sheep.

There were just 2.1%, or 742 flocks with upwards of 500 sheep recorded in December 2018.

Breed breakdown

In recent years the sheep census has asked farmers to break down numbers by breed type. There has been quite a bit of fluctuation in figures in recent years, with farmers coming to terms with the new recording procedure.

It does however give an indication as to the make-up of the national flock. Lowland cross sheep were recorded as being the main breed type at 1.2m head. Mountain sheep were not far behind with 1.05m head, while there were 806,703 sheep classified as lowland and 664,486 sheep recorded as mountain cross.