Increase in beef breeding herd

Marts: Provisional results from the CSO June Livestock Survey show the beef breeding herd on farms has increased in size for the second successive year.

Beef cows totalled 1.21 million head, an increase of 26,000 head on 2003, while the number of beef replacement heifers was 141,000 head higher, equivalent to an increase of 3%. The total Irish cattle herd is up 1% at 7.04m head, of which the total breeding herd accounts for 2.81m head, within which the number of beef breeding cows stands at 1.21m.

There was an increase of 7% in the number of dairy replacement heifers with an extra 231,000 head.