Farmers reported just shy of 1,300 cattle to the Department of Agriculture that they suspected of having been stolen or missing from their farms between January and November 2025, figures provided to the Irish Farmers Journal show.

The Department’s Animal Identification and Movement (AIM) system has 1,229 cattle flagged by farmers as missing and another 64 reported stolen over the 11 months.

Two border counties account for half of all the cattle reported as having been robbed this year.

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AIMS notifications put Co Louth as the county with the highest number of cattle reported as stolen over the 11-month window, at 34 cattle, all of which were beef animals.

Another 10 were reported stolen from herds in Monaghan, nine of which were beef stock.

Some 59 of the cattle report stolen to the Department nationwide were beef and just five were dairy animals.

Five were weanlings, another 22 were yearlings, 16 of the cattle were aged between 24-30 months and 22 were over 30 months of age.

The number of cattle reported as having been robbed are down on the levels witnessed in 2024, when the Department had been notified of over 140 cattle that had been stolen before the end of October, the majority of which concerned herds in counties Mayo and Monaghan.

Missing cattle

The AIMS database lists a further 907 beef cattle and 322 dairy cattle reported by farmers as having gone missing up to the end of November 2025 also.

There were 181 cattle reported missing to the Department by herd owners in Co Limerick, the highest of any county.

A further 133 were reported missing from farms in Cork, 126 in Clare and a further 125 were reported missing in Laois, while the Department was also informed of over 100 cattle described as missing in counties Galway and Kildare.

Fewer than 10 cattle were reported missing from counties Dublin, Kilkenny, Carlow, Meath, Offaly, Waterford and Westmeath.