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Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2018

Crops, Livestock & Dairy

7.4 m

Cattle numbers up 2.0% on 2016

This chapter contains information on crops and livestock numbers in Ireland for the period 1847 to 2017. The statistics are drawn from CSO surveys and administrative data from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Livestock Slaughterings provides details on the number of cattle, sheep and pigs slaughtered. These figures include slaughterings at both meat establishments approved by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and slaughterhouses and meat plants approved by Local Authorities under S.I. 432 of 2009. The chapter also presents information on domestic milk intake by creameries and pasteurisers.

Area under crops and pasture in June

Table 23.1 Area under crops and pasture in June
Hectares (thousands)
Crop	2015	2016	2017
Total wheat	65.3	67.9	67.0
Winter	55.3	60.4	60.3
Spring	10.1	7.5	6.8
Total oats	23.4	23.2	24.4
Winter	11.4	13.2	14.4
Spring	12.1	10.0	10.0
Total barley	202.8	189.2	180.2
Winter	69.8	74.6	65.0
Spring	133.0	114.6	115.2
Other cereals	0.9	0.8	0.8
Total cereals	292.4	281.1	272.4

Total crops, fruit and horticulture	359.7	351.7	345.1

Silage	1,071.1	1,066.8	1,206.4
Hay	195.7	188.4	211.8
Pasture	2,299.4	2,307.8	2,177.3

Crops and pasture	3,926.0	3,914.8	3,940.6

Rough grazing in use	503.6	532.4	530.0

Area farmed	4,429.5	4,447.2	4,470.5
Source: CSO and Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Open in Excel: Table 23.1 Area under crops and pasture in June (XLS 32KB)

Interactive table: StatBank link

The total area farmed in 2017 was 4.5 million hectares. Crops, fruit and horticulture accounted for 8% of that area, silage for 27%, hay for 5%, pasture for 49% and rough grazing for 12%.

Area under selected crops 1847-2017

Open in Excel:

	Wheat	Oats	Barley	Potatoes
1847	272	625	120	89
1848	245	566	119	258
1849	243	584	127	219
1850	213	619	118	275
1851	173	641	126	270
1852	125	672	109	275
1853	113	639	113	279
1854	143	596	95	308
1855	155	612	89	309
1856	181	588	71	345
1857	192	565	81	359
1858	185	561	74	360
1859	157	568	69	374
1860	157	560	71	361
1861	133	574	78	349
1862	118	565	76	311
1863	87	566	69	315
1864	96	526	70	322
1865	93	496	72	330
1866	102	488	61	323
1867	88	475	69	308
1868	93	486	75	320
1869	87	481	90	320
1870	80	461	97	319
1871	74	458	89	322
1872	66	451	88	301
1873	50	415	92	272
1874	57	403	85	270
1875	47	408	93	272
1876	35	407	88	266
1877	42	403	90	262
1878	48	380	97	254
1879	48	356	101	252
1880	45	378	87	247
1881	47	383	83	257
1882	46	385	74	252
1883	27	381	73	242
1884	19	371	67	240
1885	20	363	71	239
1886	19	365	72	239
1887	18	362	65	238
1888	29	348	68	239
1889	28	335	74	235
1890	28	329	73	232
1891	24	328	71	222
1892	22	330	70	218
1893	16	336	67	212
1894	14	340	66	211
1895	10	329	69	208
1896	11	318	69	206
1897	13	313	68	199
1898	15	313	63	195
1899	15	301	67	194
1900	15	293	69	191
1901	13	293	64	186
1902	13	287	67	183
1903	11	293	63	181
1904	9	287	63	179
1905	11	283	62	177
1906	13	287	70	178
1907	12	290	67	172
1908	12	286	61	169
1909	14	276	64	167
1910	15	289	67	173
1911	15	284	63	172
1912	15	281	66	170
1913	11	284	68	168
1914	12	281	68	167
1915	29	299	57	172
1916	26	294	60	172
1917	43	420	71	210
1918	55	457	74	205
1919	24	410	74	172
1920	18	366	82	170
1921	16	332	68	166
1922	15	311	66	165
1923	15	295	59	161
1924	13	279	63	159
1925	9	272	59	154
1926	12	262	57	152
1927	14	261	49	148
1928	13	262	52	147
1929	12	270	48	147
1930	11	261	47	140
1931	8	252	47	140
1932	9	256	42	141
1933	20	257	48	138
1934	38	236	58	139
1935	66	249	56	136
1936	103	226	53	135
1937	89	232	53	132
1938	93	231	48	132
1939	103	217	30	128
1940	124	276	54	148
1941	187	317	66	173
1942	233	355	75	172
1943	206	379	85	165
1944	260	383	68	167
1945	268	338	69	157
1946	260	336	58	158
1947	235	334	59	155
1948	210	356	48	156
1949	147	278	64	142
1950	148	249	50	136
1951	114	251	68	130
1952	103	247	91	125
1953	143	231	76	125
1954	197	216	66	118
1955	145	221	86	116
1956	137	212	96	115
1957	164	186	124	108
1958	170	185	125	106
1959	114	187	135	105
1960	148	172	133	95
1961	140	149	146	86
1962	127	140	164	85
1963	94	134	174	83
1964	87	117	184	74
1965	74	115	188	71
1966	53	98	187	68
1967	76	96	183	65
1968	90	88	184	59
1969	82	77	198	55
1970	95	68	214	57
1971	91	60	235	52
1972	68	52	252	44
1973	58	50	243	48
1974	57	47	246	42
1975	45	49	245	41
1976	50	40	259	47
1977	48	35	298	53
1978	50	31	325	41
1979	50	28	350	41
1980	53	25	366	42
1981	49	23	354	36
1982	57	23	326	37
1983	59	23	305	33
1984	77	26	292	35
1985	78	25	284	32
1986	75	23	265	30
1987	56	23	255	29
1988	59	23	242	27
1989	61	22	237	25
1990	70	22	207	24
1991	86	21	193	20
1992	91	20	184	22
1993	79	20	181	22
1994	74	21	170	21
1995	71	20	179	22
1996	86	21	181	24
1997	94	21	190	18
1998	84	19	191	19
1999	68	20	192	18
2000	78	17	182	14
2001	85	17	182	14
2002	103	19	176	15
2003	96	21	183	14
2004	103	20	184	13
2005	95	17	164	12
2006	88	20	167	12
2007	84	21	168	12
2008	111	23	187	11
2009	85	20	194	12
2010	78	20	175	12
2011	94	21	181	10
2012	98	24	193	9
2013	61	27	219	11
2014	72	19	216	10
2015	65	23	203	9
2016	68	23	189	9
2017	67	24	180	9

23.2 Area under selected crops 1847-2017

Interactive tables: StatBank link

The combined area under cereals (wheat, oats and barley) in 2017 was 271,000 hectares (ha) compared to 1,017,000 hectares in 1847. In 1847, oats accounted for 61% of the area of cereals grown. However, by 2017 this had fallen to almost 9% and instead, barley made up 66% of the area under cereals.

The potato crop is associated with one of the most tragic events in Ireland's history - the famine of the late 1840's when millions of Irish people died of starvation or emigrated. The potato blight in 1846 caused the area under potatoes to be untypically low at 89,000 ha in 1847 due to a lack of potato seed. By 1848 the potato acreage had recovered to 258,000 ha. The area of potatoes sown peaked in 1859 at 374,000 ha. The area under potatoes in 2017 was only 9,000 ha.

Number of livestock in June

Table 23.3 Number of livestock in June
Thousands
Description	2015	2016	2017
Total cattle	6,963.5	7,221.2	7,363.5
Bulls	36.5	25.0	16.9
Dairy cows	1,295.8	1,397.9	1,432.7
Other cows	1,075.8	1,103.7	1,081.0
Other cattle	4,555.5	4,694.6	4,832.9

Total sheep	5,138.7	5,179.2	5,197.1
Rams	75.8	77.8	78.4
Ewes	2,488.1	2,505.0	2,515.2
Other sheep	2,574.9	2,596.4	2,603.6

Total pigs	1,536.9	1,594.3	1,556.9
Boars	1.4	1.4	1.3
Female breeding pigs	147.8	148.5	143.4
Other pigs	1,387.6	1,444.4	1,412.2

Horses and ponies	93.1	92.2	84.9
Mules, jennets and asses	8.9	9.2	10.8
Goats	10.8	9.9	8.3
Source: CSO and Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Open in Excel: Table 23.3 Number of livestock in June (XLS 14KB)

Interactive table: StatBank link

5.2 m

Sheep numbers up 0.3% on 2016

1.6 m

Pig numbers down 2.3% on 2016

Number of cattle, sheep and pigs 1847-2017

Open in Excel:

	Cattle	Sheep	Pigs
1847	2005	2046	542
1848	2106	1818	530
1849	2109	1632	637
1850	2252	1725	751
1851	2327	1971	902
1852	2457	2448	876
1853	2695	2959	920
1854	2792	3507	1096
1855	2847	3393	994
1856	2868	3477	759
1857	2902	3240	1029
1858	2955	3297	1207
1859	3062	3391	1034
1860	2898	3350	1049
1861	2803	3358	932
1862	2617	3270	954
1863	2539	3138	913
1864	2636	3181	896
1865	2834	3489	1097
1866	3022	4029	1236
1867	2996	4546	1050
1868	2953	4580	751
1869	3031	4350	922
1870	3081	4065	1221
1871	3199	3948	1325
1872	3268	3964	1160
1873	3361	4180	891
1874	3348	4172	916
1875	3346	3988	1029
1876	3342	3765	1165
1877	3238	3739	1221
1878	3271	3847	1068
1879	3338	3779	892
1880	3212	3341	728
1881	3268	3051	924
1882	3283	2880	1170
1883	3367	3016	1139
1884	3384	3059	1071
1885	3467	3261	1036
1886	3423	3132	1033
1887	3412	3117	1146
1888	3347	3350	1111
1889	3370	3478	1136
1890	3501	3955	1286
1891	3660	4295	1108
1892	3716	4396	905
1893	3671	4033	936
1894	3617	3741	1116
1895	3575	3563	1093
1896	3623	3717	1125
1897	3662	3796	1064
1898	3691	3911	1031
1899	3718	3983	1129
1900	3804	3980	1045
1901	3868	3981	1015
1902	3942	3821	1100
1903	3861	3568	1154
1904	3866	3468	1096
1905	3841	3394	945
1906	3836	3352	1001
1907	3889	3425	1085
1908	4020	3703	1046
1909	3942	3729	954
1910	3934	3600	990
1911	3950	3543	1160
1912	4049	3466	1100
1913	4134	3273	895
1914	4237	3234	1083
1915	4060	3207	1008
1916	4167	3355	1089
1917	4132	3327	844
1918	4093	3218	859
1919	4232	3045	863
1920	4261	3016	887
1921	4419	3020	891
1922	4375	2794	938
1923	4278	2666	1186
1924	4268	2726	987
1925	3991	2813	732
1926	3947	3003	884
1927	4047	3120	1178
1928	4125	3263	1183
1929	4137	3375	945
1930	4038	3515	1052
1931	4029	3575	1227
1932	4025	3461	1108
1933	4137	3405	931
1934	4086	2931	968
1935	4019	3042	1088
1936	4014	3062	1017
1937	3955	3000	934
1938	4056	3197	959
1939	4057	3048	931
1940	4023	3071	1049
1941	4150	2909	764
1942	4084	2693	519
1943	4136	2560	434
1944	4246	2663	381
1945	4211	2581	426
1946	4146	2423	479
1947	3950	2094	457
1948	3921	2058	457
1949	4127	2192	675
1950	4322	2385	645
1951	4376	2616	558
1952	4309	2857	719
1953	4397	2930	882
1954	4504	3113	958
1955	4483	3269	799
1956	4537	3439	747
1957	4417	3720	900
1958	4466	4174	948
1959	4684	4412	852
1960	4741	4314	951
1961	4713	4528	1056
1962	4742	4671	1111
1963	4860	4691	1102
1964	4962	4950	1108
1965	5359	5014	1266
1966	5590	4664	1013
1967	5586	4239	985
1968	5572	4077	1063
1969	5688	4006	1116
1970	5956	4082	1192
1971	6177	4163	1322
1972	6527	4208	1199
1973	7113	4184	1108
1974	7413	3962	923
1975	7168	3683	796
1976	6954	3475	925
1977	7124	3534	939
1978	7098	3427	1031
1979	7093	3392	1103
1980	6909	3292	1030
1981	6744	3402	1021
1982	6728	3571	1057
1983	6810	3868	1081
1984	6806	4074	1036
1985	6819	4487	1004
1986	6616	5012	1003
1987	6545	5595	999
1988	6464	6656	1014
1989	6642	7625	1067
1990	6816	8539	1194
1991	6912	8888	1304
1992	6951	8898	1386
1993	6982	8627	1522
1994	6996	8404	1530
1995	7034	8331	1550
1996	7314	7888	1621
1997	7533	8132	1700
1998	7640	8312	1819
1999	7387	7925	1787
2000	7037	7555	1722
2001	7050	7330	1743
2002	6992	7210	1785
2003	7000	6849	1726
2004	7016	6777	1653
2005 1	6992	6392	1688
2006	6978	5973	1643
2007	6891	5522	1588
2008	6902	5061	1462
2009	6891	4778	1385
2010	6607	4745	1516
2011	6493	4830	1549
2012	6754	5170	1571
2013	6903	5007	1553
2014	6926	5097	1555
2015	6964	5139	1537
2016	7221	5179	1594
2017	7364	5197	1557

Table 23.4 Number of cattle, sheep and pigs 1847-2017

Interactive table: StatBank link

Cattle numbers have more than trebled since the Famine. Since 1847 the number of cattle have increased consistently, peaking at 7.64 million in 1998. Cattle numbers in 2017 stand at 7.36 million.

The number of sheep in Ireland peaked at 8.90 million in 1992 and since then numbers have fallen sharply to just 5.20 million in 2017.

The number of pigs in 1847 stood at 0.54 million compared to 1.56 million in 2017. The number of pigs peaked in 1998 at 1.82 million.

Livestock slaughterings

Table 23.5 Livestock slaughterings
000 head
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Cattle	1,685	1,774	1,771	1,665	1,600	1,716	1,642	1,484	1,589	1,749	1,665	1,744	1,852
Pigs	2,656	2,658	2,615	2,578	2,421	2,657	2,905	2,972	2,904	3,043	3,226	3,317	3,355
Sheep	3,613	3,488	3,264	2,919	2,730	2,383	2,410	2,691	2,874	2,837	2,833	2,892	3,183
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Table 23.5 Livestock slaughterings 2005-2017 (XLS 12KB)

Show Graph - Figure 23.3 Livestock Slaughterings 2005-2017

X-axis label	Cattle	Pigs	Sheep
2005	1.685039	2.656339	3.612721
2006	1.77375	2.657959	3.487758
2007	1.771	2.614779	3.263753
2008	1.664973	2.577643	2.919119
2009	1.600391	2.420767	2.729861
2010	1.716419	2.657072	2.382681
2011	1.642353	2.905016	2.409988
2012	1.483755	2.972255	2.690816
2013	1.588658	2.90368	2.874106
2014	1.748703	3.042834	2.836617
2015	1.664868	3.226009	2.832774
2016	1.74419	3.316565	2.892168
2017	1.851561	3.35509	3.183157

Interactive table: StatBank link

Cattle slaughterings in 2017 increased by over 6% in comparison to 2016.

Pig slaughterings in 2017 increased by over 1% and Sheep slaughterings increased by over 10% in comparison to 2016.

Number of dairy cows

Open in Excel:

X-axis label	Dairy Cows	% Change
2013	1163200	2.0
2014	1226400	5.4
2015	1295800	5.7
2016	1397900	7.9
2017	1432700	2.5

Interactive table: Statbank link

The number of dairy cows increased by over 23% in the period 2013 to 2017.

In the years leading up to and since the abolition of the milk quota in 2015, a steady year-on-year increase in the number of dairy cows on Irish farms has been observed.

The number of dairy cows in 2017 was 1,432,700, an increase of 2.5% on 2016.

Domestic milk intake

Open in Excel:

X-axis label	Domestic Milk Intake	% Change
2013	5422.7	3.6
2014	5648.5	4.2
2015	6395.2	13.2
2016	6653.9	4
2017	7262.5	9.1

Interactive table: Statbank link

The domestic milk intake increased by just under 34% in the period 2013 to 2017.

In 2017, the estimated domestic milk intake in litres by creameries and pasteurisers in Ireland was 7,262,500 litres, an increase of over 9% on 2016.

Go to next chapter >>> Agriculture Accounts & Prices

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Table 23.4 Number of Cattle, Sheep and Pigs 1847 - 2017
Thousands
Year	Cattle	Sheep	Pigs
1847	2,005	2,046	542
1857	2,902	3,240	1,029
1867	2,996	4,546	1,050
1877	3,238	3,739	1,221
1887	3,412	3,117	1,146
1897	3,662	3,796	1,064
1907	3,889	3,425	1,085
1917	4,132	3,327	844
1927	4,047	3,120	1,178
1937	3,955	3,000	934
1947	3,950	2,094	457
1957	4,417	3,720	900
1967	5,586	4,239	985
1977	7,124	3,534	939
1987	6,545	5,595	999
1997	7,533	8,132	1,700
2007	6,891	5,522	1,588
2017	7,364	5,197	1,557
New series for cattle from 2005
Source: CSO and Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2018

Crops, Livestock & Dairy

Area under crops and pasture in June

Area under selected crops 1847-2017

Number of livestock in June

Number of cattle, sheep and pigs 1847-2017

Livestock slaughterings

Number of dairy cows

Domestic milk intake

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Table 23.2 Area under selected crops 1847 - 2017
Hectares (thousands)
Year	Wheat	Oats	Barley	Potatoes	Crops, fruit and horticulture
1847	272	625	120	89	1,266
1857	192	565	81	359	1,373
1867	88	475	69	308	1,121
1877	42	403	90	262	970
1887	18	362	65	238	841
1897	13	313	68	199	745
1907	12	290	67	172	687
1917	43	420	71	210	907
1927	14	261	49	148	612
1937	89	232	53	132	644
1947	235	334	59	155	937
1957	164	186	124	108	711
1967	76	96	183	65	527
1977	48	35	298	53	508
1987	56	23	255	29	438
1997	94	21	190	18	414
2007	84	21	168	12	379
2017	67	24	180	9	345
New series from 2008
Source: CSO and Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine