Suckler cow numbers are on track to fall by 100,000 in the next 10 years, agricultural research leaders warned at the Beef Summit.

Teagasc director Prof Gerry Boyle said that dairy cow numbers would continue to increase for the foreseeable future, with recent growth faster than the corresponding reduction in the suckler herd.

“In terms of climate change, there’s a fundamental incompatibility there,” he said.

Prof Boyle added that there were 400,000 sucklers in Ireland before dairy quotas came in in 1984.

“In the space of 10 years, they went to over 1m. When you take away the quota, I think there’s a certain inevitability about a further decline in the suckler herd,” he said.

Michael Wallace, professor of agriculture and food economics at UCD, forecast that the number of suckler cows was likely to fall from 950,000 currently to 850,000 over the next 10 years.

As revealed in the Irish Farmers Journal last week, he predicted that suckler cow numbers will fall by 14,200 cows per year unless something is done to change the current trajectory. That would equate to 1,400 suckler farms every year going out of the business.

Professor Wallace highlighted that the sector is worth almost €3bn and the equivalent of 52,000 full time jobs to the Irish economy.

The reliance on sucklers is particularly evident in the midland, northern and western regions, which combined rely on the industry for more than €2bn and 36,000 jobs.

The cost price squeeze between falling prices and rising inputs is causing real pressure and real disillusionment in the suckler sector, Prof Wallace said.

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