Over 229,000 cattle have been exported from Ireland in the first 23 weeks of this year, according to the latest figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
According to DAFM figures, the number of cattle exported from Ireland is 1% or 3,350 head below the number of cattle exported in the same time period of last year.
As of Sunday, June 9, the volume of calf and weanling exports have fallen by 6% and 7% respectively, but the number of store and adult cattle exported has increased by 28% and 33% respectively.
The table below gives an overview of cattle exports by type in the first 23 weeks of 2022, 2023 and 2024:
Type 2022
Week 1-232023
Week 1-232024
Week 1-232022/24 2023/24 Calves 158,303 188,660 177,820 12% 6% Weanlings 12,089 15,606 14,479 20% 7% Stores 15,292 12,585 16,056 5% 28% Adult cattle 17,100 15,549 20,692 21% 33% Total 202,784 232,400 229,047 13% 1%
As can be seen from the table above, calves account for the largest volume of cattle exports, with just under 178,000 calves exported to date this year.
For the purpose of the above table, calves are classified as cattle under six-weeks-of-age, weanlings are all cattle from six-weeks-of-age to six-months-of-age, store cattle are all cattle from six-months-of-age to 24-months-of-age, and adult cattle are all cattle from 24-months-of-age and older.
Looking closer at calf export figures this year and just under 75,000 calves have been sold to The Netherlands, which is down 26% from the 101,000 calves exported there in the same time period of last year.
However, calf exports to Spain are up 23% with just over 60,000 calves exported to the country in the first 23 weeks of this year.
Italy, Poland and Romania are the third, fourth and fifth largest markets for Irish calves with approximately 16,000 12,000 and 5,000 calves sold to these countries respectively to date this year.
Interestingly, calf exports to Northern Ireland have increased by 138% this year to just over 4,600 head from 1,957 head sold there last year.
Conversations with industry stakeholders would suggest that larger volumes of beef-sired dairy calves are being exported this year – in line with home market availability.