Aberdeen Angus was the most popular beef sire used on Northern Ireland farms last year, figures published by the Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) indicate.

The breed accounted for 25.4% of all beef-sired calf registrations during 2020, up from 23.7% the year before.

Angus knocked Limousin off top stop.

Overall, 24.7% of beef-sired calves were registered as Limousin last year, compared with 25.1% during 2019.

Charolais remains in third place, with the breed accounting for 21.6% of calf registrations.

Herefords made up 7.9% of registrations and Belgian Blue accounted for 6.7% of beef-sired calves.