Sheep numbers down 14,000 last year
Overall, the greatest number of sheep was kept in Co Donegal with a population of 541,063.
Sheep numbers were down by around 14,000 last year, census data published on Monday shows.
The Department of Agriculture carries out a census of sheep and goats annually.
This census report records the number of sheep and goats kept in Ireland on December 31, 2022, and is based on data submitted to the department by April 28, 2023.
Sheep census forms were issued to 48,627 sheep keepers registered with the department.
Responses were received from 42,214 herds, representing a response rate of 87%.
Of these, 35,555 herds kept sheep and 6,659 herds kept no sheep at the time of the census.
Just under 900 respondents who were not keeping sheep on the census date indicated that they did not intend to re-enter sheep farming in the near future.
Data from the 2022 census shows that a total of 4m sheep were kept across the over 42,000 active registered herds in the country at the end of December 2022.
The 2022 sheep population shows a decrease of approximately 14,000 (0.35%) on the total numbers recorded in December 2021.
There were over 2.6m breeding ewes over 12 months of age, which is a decrease of almost 36,000 (1.3%) on the previous year’s breeding ewe population.
A total of 85,802 breeding rams was recorded - a decrease of over 400 on the previous year.
1.26m other sheep were recorded (including lambs, wethers, cull ewes). This category increased by over 22,000 in 2022 (1.78%).
The number of registered holdings keeping sheep decreased by over 600 from 2021.
Overall, the greatest number of sheep was kept in Co Donegal with a population of 541,063.
Co Limerick recorded the fewest number of sheep (21,727), just 0.5% of the total population.
46.7% (1,874,117) of the total population are classified as mountain or mountain crossbreeds.
53.3% of all sheep recorded were classified as lowland or lowland crossbreeds.
The greatest number of mountain sheep was kept in Co Mayo with 229,260. The greatest number of mountain cross sheep was kept in Co Donegal with 112,829.
The greatest number of lowland (126,117) and lowland crossbreeds (171,349) was in Co Galway.
A total of 69% of flocks (24,541) kept fewer than the national average of 113.
2022 was the first year since 2018 to record a decrease in the national sheep flock. However, the 2022 population remains over 4m and at the second highest level in recent years, after 2021.
2022 goat census returns show a total of 9,243 goats kept across 1,011 active registered herds.
The number of goats is an increase of 13% (1,166) on the 2021 figure.
734 respondent keepers declared that they kept goats in December 2022, representing a decrease of just one since 2021.
A further 277 keepers declared that they had no goats at the time of the census and of those, 78 declared that they would not be re-entering goat farming.
With 106 herds, Co Cork had the greatest number of goat herds in 2022.
The greatest number of goats was kept in Co Tipperary where 1,004 goats were recorded, followed by Co Cork with 809.
As in previous years, most domestic goats are kept in very small herds on a non-commercial basis.
The average goat herd size is 13 and of the herds that submitted a census return, 627 (85%) keep fewer than this figure.
