Some 579 cattle had been reported as missing or stolen to the Department of Agriculture as of last week, figures provided to the Irish Farmers Journal show.
According to the Department’s Animal Identification and Movement (AIM) system, 567 cattle were reported missing by farmers and a further 12 were reported stolen in the last five months.
Kilkenny was the county with the largest number of cattle flagged as stolen with two beef cattle and three dairy stock taken from farms.
Another three beef cattle were reported as stolen from Westmeath.
In counties Carlow, Donegal, Limerick and Mayo farmers reported one animal stolen to the Department in each of the counties.
Overall, eight beef cattle were reported as stolen to the Department and just four were dairy animals.
Six were calves, three were weanlings, one was a yearling and two of the cattle were aged between 24 and 30 months.
Between January and November 2025, just under 1,300 cattle were reported as stolen or missing.
A further 368 beef cattle and 199 dairy animals were reported by farmers as having gone missing to date in 2026.
The country with the highest number of cattle reported as missing was in Galway with 107, followed by Limerick with 89.
A further 60 cattle were reported missing from Clare, 51 in Laois and 50 in Cork.
Counties Carlow, Cavan, Donegal, Dublin, Kilkenny, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo and Wexford had fewer than 10 cattle reported as missing.
Last year, data shows that farmers reported over 1,300 cattle as missing or stolen to the Department.
The vast majority of these animals were reported as missing, with 64 reported stolen.
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