Dairy farmers are least likely to be single, if Teagasc’s national farm survey (NFS) is anything to go by, with farmers in the beef finishing and store cattle enterprises most likely to be separated.

Dairy farmer respondents were the youngest of all enterprises, with an average age of 54.9 years. They were also least likely to be single at 13.2% and were almost on par with mixed livestock farmers when it came to marital status, with 81.5% of dairy farmers married.

Aside from tillage farmers (who had a 0% separation rate), dairy farmers were least likely to separate from their partners, with only 1.4% separated.

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Of cattle-rearing farmers who participated in the survey, 65% were married, 26% were single and 2.4% were separated.

'Cattle other' farmers, which is typically beef finishing and store cattle enterprises, have a 4.3% chance of separating from their partners, the highest of all farming enterprises.

A total of 17.5% claimed to be single and 76.2% were married.

Single farmers

Sheep farmers in the survey had the lowest marriage rate and highest proportion of single farmers, with 64.1% married and 27.6% single.

According to the survey, 72.5% of tillage farmers are married and none are separated. Of the tillage farmer respondents, 25.3% said they were single.

Mixed livestock farmers are most likely to be married according to the report, with 81.9% of this category married.

They are also the oldest farmers, with an average age of 62.6. Only 15.2% are single and 2.9% said they were separated.

The Teagasc NFS has been published annually since the early 1970s and forms part of the EU-wide farm sustainability data network.