There have been over 2m calves registered in Ireland so far this year, according to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF).

With calving season coming to an end, total calf births registered in 2022 hit 2,012,245 as of 17 June 2022.

The ICBF says this figure is “up ever so slightly by 3,987” on the 2,008,258 registered by the same date in 2021.

Beef decline

However, the ICBF noted that beef calf births have been “actually on the decline” in 2022, with over 21,000 fewer beef calves registered up to 17 June this year when compared with the same period last year.

The drop from 594,634 to 573,515 equates to a decrease of nearly 4%.

There had been 1,438,730 dairy calf births registered by last Friday, up from the 1,413,615 registered by the same date in 2021.

The 25,115 increase in dairy calf births this year equates to a jump of nearly 2%.

Pedigree calf birth registrations so far this year are similar to those reported last year, albeit slightly higher, with 84,115 registered in 2022 and 83,785 in 2021.

This represents an increase of 330 pedigree calves.