To the end of June 2025, a total of 1.56m tonnes of concentrate feed compounds were delivered onto NI farms, up 10.5% over the same period in 2024, figures published by DAERA show.

The overall increase was mainly driven by significantly higher tonnages going onto dairy farms and also to the rapidly growing laying hen sector in NI.

Over the period, the amount of dairy cow compounds delivered to NI farms was up 13.5% or 45,500t to 383,300t, with producers responding to a very favourable milk-to-feed price ratio.

ADVERTISEMENT

Across the first half of 2025, figures from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) put this ratio at around the 1.5 mark (milk price of 45p and concentrate at 30p/kg or £300/t). That is well ahead of the 5-year average of around 1.25 and the highest for 17 years.

As well as dairy compounds, dairy coarse mixes or blends were up 17.6% at 175,100t.

Beef

Beef farmers have also fed more in 2025, although the actual tonnages involved are less than half going to dairy. Beef coarse mixes and blends are up 9.4% at 153,500t, with beef compounds up 13.1% at 76,400t.

That increase is probably down to a number of factors, including poor first cut silages made last summer and record prices for beef, which gave producers the confidence to push cattle on to finish.

There is also the £75 per head Beef Carbon Reduction (BCR) scheme, with eligibility dependent on meeting a maximum age at slaughter, which fell from 30 months in 2024 to 28 months this year. Some cattle that might have traditionally gone to grass, were probably kept inside and finished this spring to avail of the payment.

Pigs and poultry

In the pig sector, the amount of feed going to farms in the first half of 2025 was up 3.6% at 125,000t.

However, broilers are the one major sector that has seen reduced tonnages fed in 2025, dropping 2.3% to 240,600t on the back of the continued leakage of producers to the layer sector.

The amount of feed going out to layer farms in NI saw exceptional growth of 22.3% to June 2025, taking the total fed to 218,300t.

That leaves sheep as the other main livestock sector, although it is actually a low user of feed, with 45,900t delivered to farms in the first half of 2025, a 6.7% increase on the year previous.