Exodus from Irish cattle farming stepped up

EIGHT producers per day dropped out of Irish cattle farming over the past two years, on average.

Official figures show the rate of exit has been accelerating, with the exodus in 2005 almost double that for 2004 — the first signs of the much anticipated impact of the ending of the per head livestock premia, and the change to the Single Payment.

The information that there were 3,600 fewer cattle herds in the country at December 31, compared to a year earlier, comes in the new Cattle Movement Monitoring System (CMMS) figures.