The average size of both dairy and tillage farms increased by 17% in the decade leading up to 2023 as the size of the typical beef or sheep farm declined.

Figures provided in Teagasc’s 2023 National Farm Survey (NFS) report show that the average dairy farm added 9ha to its utilised agricultural area over the past 10 years, while the equivalent for tillage was even greater at over 10ha.

The typical dairy farm covered 64.6ha last year and the equivalent for tillage was 73.3ha.

A 10-year NFS comparison confirms that the average dairy herd saw a significant growth in cow numbers as quotas were lifted, increasing from 68 cows to 93.

However, growth in herd sizes stalled amid the low margins and challenging weather conditions borne out on farms last year when the average herd size contracted from the 97-cow average seen in 2022.

Around eight in 10 dairy farmers rented in additional land last year and these farmers were generally larger in size than the sector’s average, while a declining proportion of tillage farmers did so at around 45%.

Drystock trends

Dairy farmers averaged €9,783 on land rental costs for 2023 and the tillage sector was just below this at €12,500.

Both sectors averaged approximately €4,500 in conacre costs 10 years ago.

The growing size of dairy and tillage farms over the past decade has not been replicated in the drystock sector and sheep farms.

Sheep farms averaged 44ha in size in 2023, some 10ha smaller than the figure had been in 2013.

This was a 17% drop in the farmed area, but the average number of livestock units carried on these farms only declined by 8%.

Both suckler and finishing farms averaged 5ha smaller in 2023’s survey than they had been a decade previous at 33.8ha and 33.5ha on average.

The drop in livestock numbers on these farms was equivalent to two cows in the average suckler herd and a fall of over one in every 10 of the cattle which had been carried a decade ago on beef farms.