UK suckler herd declines

Recent figures from the UK suggest that the beef breeding herd there, especially in England, is at a record low level. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs’ (DEFRA) annual livestock survey estimates a five per cent drop in beef-cow numbers since summer 2023. At fewer than 600,000 cows, there has been a fall-off in numbers of 30,000 head from year to year. While the Irish suckler herd is still considerably larger than the UK’s, it, too, is in retreat with Central Statistics Office (CSO) data showing that there were 825,000 suckler cows on Irish farms as of last June. That figure represents a reduction of 47,000 cows on the figure for 2023. The drop in percentage terms is 5.4 per cent, despite ongoing efforts to stabilise the herd through various financial supports. Meanwhile, the Irish dairy herd, having expanded on foot of the removal of quotas in 2015, has also seen a levelling off in cow numbers, with current replacement estimates indicating a potential reduction in the coming years. Add in a surge in dairy-herd sales, especially in the south of the country, and it will take significant increases in volume and solids productivity on remaining farms to optimise the sector’s greatly enhanced processing capacity.