According to the recent Eurostat Statistical Book on Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery, Ireland’s animal output grew by 17,7% between 2010 and 2014.

This is the fastest growth in the value of production from livestock production among the 28 EU member states, and the figure is solid as Eurostat corrected the effect of local inflation before making its calculations.

The comparison ends before the removal of quotas in April 2015 and Ireland has been shown to have some of the highest figures for milk production growth in the EU since then, which is likely to keep the Irish livestock industry at the top of the league table next year.

Eurostat’s publication also reveals Ireland to be among the European countries most reliant on family labour, with more than 90% of the work on farms done by family members. Only Poland, Slovenia and Croatia rank higher in this area.