Dairy birth registrations have been running higher than the corresponding week in 2024 for the last three weeks, helping to close the gap in births compared with last year. Birth registrations had been running over 40,000 head lower than in 2024 in late February and early March, but at 1,122,478 head, that gap has now closed to 25,709 based on the latest Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) statistics.
Dairy birth registrations have been running higher than the corresponding week in 2024 for the last three weeks, helping to close the gap in births compared with last year.
Birth registrations had been running over 40,000 head lower than in 2024 in late February and early March, but at 1,122,478 head, that gap has now closed to 25,709 based on the latest Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) statistics.
The number of dairy births registered in the week ending 4 April 2025 was recorded at 72,599 head, representing an increase of 11,123 or 18% on the corresponding week in 2024.
The trend of later birth registrations is partly due to inclement weather in spring 2024 encouraging some farmers to push back the start of breeding, while the tough conditions also negatively affected conception rates and pushed calving dates back.
Suckler births
The number of suckler birth registrations for the week ending 4 April is also running significantly higher than in 2024. The number of calves registered was recorded at 23,522 head, an increase of 6,795 or almost 29%.
The total number of suckler birth registrations, at 206,284 head, is running over 5,400 lower than in 2024.
However, this is below the shortfall recorded in recent years and hopefully points to a slowdown in the number of cows exiting the sector.
Birth registrations fell by approximately 50,000 head in 2024, with total birth registrations reducing by over 250,000 over the last decade.
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