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Sales of animal feed during the first eight months of 2020 are up year-on-year across cattle, sheep and pig units, DAERA statistics show.
Starting with cattle feed, there was 833,100t delivered on farms from January to August, a 1% increase on the 823,900t during the same period in 2019.
On closer analysis, the year-on-year increase is due to a 4% increase in feed use on dairy farms, with 543,500t delivered in 2020 compared to 521,500t in 2019.
In contrast, feed deliveries on beef farms fell by just over 15,000t to 234,500t this year, the majority of which was blended feed compared to a compound nut.
On sheep farms, feed deliveries totalled 46,900t this year, up from 42,100 in 2019, but almost 12,000t below 2018 levels.
Pigs and poultry
Meanwhile, feed deliveries on to pig farms totalled 167,500t over the first eight months of the year, up from 155,600t last year. However, poultry feed was down, falling from 571,100t in 2019 to 557,900 this year.
Fertiliser
DAERA statistics also show a 13% drop in fertiliser sales during the second quarter (Q2) of 2020 when compared to the previous year.
However, while sales were down in Q2, the combined fertiliser volumes delivered on farm during Q1 and Q2 in 2020 totalled 256,300t, a 13.2% on the 226,300t delivered during the same period in 2019.
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