Beef-sired calf births more than double dairy-sired births
The number of beef-sired calves born in the first six months of this year is more than double the number of dairy-sired calf births, according to Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) figures.
In the first six months of this year, just under 1.4 million (1,397,212) beef-sired calves were born in Ireland versus just under 640,000 (638,277) dairy-sired calves.
That equates to just under 70% (68.64%) of all calves born in the first six months of this year being sired by a beef bull.
Of the dairy-sired calves approximately 273,000 were males and 365,000 were females.
While the volume of calves bred from beef-breed sires is much larger than dairy-sired calves, the vast majority of these calves are bred from dairy dams.
Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) figures show that as of June 28, almost 1.5 million (1,475,906) calves were registered to dairy cows versus 523,637 calves registered to suckler cows.
The table below outlines calf births by month, gender and sire type for the first half of 2024:
| Month | Beef-sired male calves | Beef-sired female calves | Beef-sired total | Dairy-sired male calves | Dairy-sired female calves | Dairy sired total | Overall total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47,015 | 46,855 | 93,870 | 46,852 | 82,142 | 128,994 | 222,864 |
| February | 199,692 | 187,191 | 386,883 | 161,224 | 213,526 | 374,750 | 761,633 |
| March | 220,871 | 201,685 | 422,556 | 42,546 | 44,948 | 87,494 | 510,050 |
| April | 143,823 | 131,205 | 275,028 | 14,769 | 15,495 | 30,264 | 305,292 |
| May | 76,886 | 71,152 | 148,038 | 5,727 | 6,174 | 11,901 | 159,939 |
| June | 36,533 | 34,304 | 70,837 | 2,265 | 2,609 | 4,874 | 75,711 |
| Total | 724,820 | 672,392 | 1,397,212 | 273,383 | 364,894 | 638,277 | 2,035,489 |
The total number of beef sired calves born this year has increased by almost 9,000 head while the number of dairy-sired calves has fallen by approximately 76,000 head.
On the contrary, the number of calves born to beef-breed cows in the first six months of the year has fallen by over 35,000 head while the number of calves born to dairy-breed cows in that time period has remained relatively similar.
The rollout of sexed semen and levelling off in national dairy cow numbers has likely attributed to an increasing use of beef-breed sires on dairy cows.
While sire breed usage trends are going in the right direction from a beef industry perspective, the challenge remains to further improve the genetic beef merit of the calves bred from the dairy herd that are destined for beef production.
