National herd lowest in 10 years

Marts: The national livestock herd has dropped to its lowest level in more than 10 years, following a landslide in animals over 24 months, although the drop in the national beef breeding herd has been less dramatic.

The CSO figures to the end of December 2003 shows total cattle population at 6.223 million head, the lowest since the early 90’s, while cattle population in the country peaked in 1997 at 6.882 million head.

However, as the CSO figures are based on the trend gleaned from a representative survey of livestock in the country rather than a census, differences between the CSO figures and the Department of Agriculture CMMS emerged last year and remain unexplained to-date.

The CMMS showed a national cattle herd of 7.074 million head at the end of December 2002 compared to a CSO figure of 6.333 million head. The CSO data to the end of last year is expected to be released later this spring.

However, the CSO figures do indicate a major change in the make-up of the national herd.

Dairy cows at 1.136 million are the lowest in more than a decade, while beef cows at 1.144 are 50,000 head lower than the peak of 1998, but above average for the past decade.

Male animals of two years and over at the end of last year was at 258,000 compared to 571,000 head at the end of 1994. The fall was less dramatic for two- year-old and over females at 191,000 compared to a peak of 273,000 at the end of 1998.

The number of animals under one year on farms at 1.751 million compares to the average of 1.725 million over the past 10 years.

The statistics now show that there was continual growth in livestock numbers between 1993 and 1998, followed by a sharp decline in 1999 and 2000, a slight recovery in 2001 and 2002 (with FMD restrictions) and a fall for 1993.