| Total Cereals | Cattle | Sheep | |
| '000 hectares | |||
| '000 | '000 | ||
| June 2012 | 315.4 | 6,754.1 | 5,170.0 |
| June 2013 | 303.3 | 6,902.6 | 5,076.9 |
| % change | -3.8 | 2.2 | -1.8 |
Preliminary estimates for June 2013 show that the area under cereals decreased by12,100 hectares (-3.8%) to 303,300 ha. This was due to combined decreases in each of the winter cereals (wheat, oats and barley), including a drop of 40,000 ha (-47.3%) in winter wheat. The area under spring cereals increased by 37,700 ha, with an increase of 29,400 ha (+19.4%) in spring barley. See Table 1
The total number of cattle increased by 148,500 (+2.2%) to 6,902,600. This was mainly due to increases of 102,500 (+13.3%) in male cattle 1 to 2 years, 27,600 (+7.6%) in male cattle 2 years and over and 22,400 (+2.0%) in dairy cows. See Table 2.
The June 2013 results also show that:
| Table 1 Area under Crops | |||||
| Description | June 2011 | June 2012 | June 2013 | Change 2012 - 2013 | |
| ' 000 hectares | ' 000 hectares | % | |||
| Wheat - total | 94.2 | 98.0 | 59.5 | -38.5 | -39.3 |
| Winter wheat | 77.7 | 84.6 | 44.6 | -40.0 | -47.3 |
| Spring wheat | 16.4 | 13.5 | 14.9 | 1.5 | 10.8 |
| Oats - total | 21.4 | 23.7 | 25.9 | 2.2 | 9.5 |
| Winter oats | 9.0 | 9.9 | 5.3 | -4.6 | -46.3 |
| Spring oats | 12.4 | 13.8 | 20.6 | 6.8 | 49.4 |
| Barley - total | 180.6 | 192.8 | 216.8 | 24.0 | 12.5 |
| Winter barley | 35.9 | 41.0 | 35.6 | -5.4 | -13.1 |
| Spring barley | 144.8 | 151.8 | 181.1 | 29.4 | 19.4 |
| Other cereals | 1.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 24.5 |
| Total cereals | 297.4 | 315.4 | 303.3 | -12.1 | -3.8 |
| Potatoes | 10.4 | 9.0 | 10.3 | 1.3 | 14.6 |
| Table 2 Number of Cattle | |||||
| Description | June 2011 | June 2012 | June 2013 | Change 2012 - 2013 | |
| ' 000 | ' 000 | % | |||
| Total cattle | 6,493.0 | 6,754.1 | 6,902.6 | 148.5 | 2.2 |
| Dairy cows1 | 1,116.9 | 1,140.8 | 1,163.2 | 22.4 | 2.0 |
| Other cows | 1,123.3 | 1,148.6 | 1,150.3 | 1.7 | 0.1 |
| Bulls2 | 41.8 | 36.1 | 41.4 | 5.4 | 14.9 |
| Cattle male: 2 years and over | 425.5 | 360.6 | 388.2 | 27.6 | 7.6 |
| Cattle female: 2 years and over | 411.9 | 372.0 | 380.1 | 8.1 | 2.2 |
| Cattle male: 1-2 years | 673.4 | 770.2 | 872.7 | 102.5 | 13.3 |
| Cattle female: 1-2 years | 854.7 | 889.8 | 938.3 | 48.5 | 5.4 |
| Cattle male: under 1 year | 891.9 | 1,023.2 | 959.2 | -63.9 | -6.2 |
| Cattle female: under 1 year | 953.6 | 1,012.8 | 1,009.3 | -3.6 | -0.4 |
| Total cattle male | 2,032.7 | 2,190.1 | 2,261.5 | 71.5 | 3.3 |
| Total cattle female | 4,460.3 | 4,564.1 | 4,641.1 | 77.1 | 1.7 |
| 1 Dairy cows are those kept principally to produce milk for human consumption. | |||||
| 2 Bulls used for breeding purposes only. | |||||
| Table 3 Number of Sheep | |||||
| Description | June 2011 | June 2012 | June 2013 | Change 2012 - 2013 | |
| ' 000 | ' 000 | % | |||
| Total sheep | 4,830.0 | 5,170.0 | 5,076.9 | -93.1 | -1.8 |
| Breeding sheep | 2,508.9 | 2,667.0 | 2,646.0 | -21.0 | -0.8 |
| Ewes: 2 years and over | 1,939.1 | 2,027.9 | 2,018.4 | -9.5 | -0.5 |
| Ewes: under 2 years | 496.1 | 561.4 | 547.0 | -14.4 | -2.6 |
| Rams | 73.7 | 77.7 | 80.6 | 2.9 | 3.7 |
| Other sheep | 2,321.0 | 2,503.0 | 2,430.9 | -72.1 | -2.9 |
Introduction
This release presents provisional estimates of land utilisation and livestock numbers in June 2013 at State level. The estimates for sheep are based on returns from the 2013 June sample survey of agricultural holdings, conducted by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The estimates for cattle and for crops are obtained from administrative data from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
Coverage Farms where the agricultural area used was at least one hectare (2.47 acres) are included in the June Agricultural Sample Survey. Farms with less than one hectare may also be included if they were engaged in intensive production.
Results
Crops The results for crops are based on data obtained from the DAFM Single Payment Scheme.
Cattle The results for cattle are obtained from DAFM’s Animal Identification and Movement (AIM) system, formerly known as the Cattle Movement Monitoring System (CMMS). This system was introduced at the beginning of 2000 and involves electronically recording data on animal movements. Information on cattle numbers and on flows into and out of the cattle population has been available from this system since December 2002.
Sheep The June 2013 results for sheep are based on the trends obtained by comparing the returns from the 2013 sample with the 2012 returns for the same 5,700 farms and applying these trends to the June 2012 figures.
As the figures in the text and tables have been rounded to the nearest 100 units, there may be slight discrepancies between the sum (or difference) of the constituent items and the total shown. Percentage changes have been calculated on actual figures.
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