Irish cattle population at 6.6m for 2003

THERE were more cattle than people in the State during 2003, the Cattle Movement Monitoring System (CMMS) report for the year has revealed.

A population of 6.6 million cattle was recorded last year. There were 2.14m calf births, almost 1.5m mart movements, over 800,000 farm-to-farm sales and some 2.3m disposals.

Agriculture and Food Minister Joe Walsh, announcing the publication of the report yesterday, said the CMMS is a central computerised database, which holds data on the birth, movements and disposal of all cattle born or imported into Ireland.