95% of cattle brought to marts across the island of Ireland in the first nine months of the year were sold, according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
The latest bovine movement data published by the department shows that 1,442,887 bovines were sent to marts between January and the end of September this year.
This marks an increase of 44,520 head (3%) when compared with the same period in 2023 (1,398,367).
In the first three quarters of 2024, 1,373,243 cattle were sold in marts which is up from 1,334,811 in the corresponding period a year previous.
The department stated that 69,644 cattle were returned home, up from 63,556 by the end of September 2023.
Marts
The data shows that 706,346 bovine were presented in marts across Munster in the first three quarters of the year.
681,208 animals were sold in marts in the southern province, which corresponds to half of all bovines sold in marts in the first nine months of the year.
It is also an increase of over 30,000 head on the 650,115 cattle sold in Munster based marts in the same period in 2023.
The data shows that 25,138 bovines were returned home from Munster marts between January and September 2024.
336,017 bovines were sent to marts in Leinster in the first nine months of this year (2023: 325,931) with 319,190 being sold (2023: 309,992) and 16,827 returned home.
There were 262,240 cattle brought to marts in Connaught, 242,491 were sold and 19,749 were returned home.
In the same period in 2023, 264,187 bovines were brought to Connaught based marts with 246,154 of those sold.
In Ulster, 138,284 cattle were sent to marts up to the end of September this year, with 130,354 sold (2023: 128,550) and 7,930 returning home.
Farm-to-farm movements
The department has also confirmed that 1,061,768 farm-to-farm movements were recorded by the end of the third quarter of 2024.
This is down from the 1,101,463 farm-to-farm movements over the same period in 2023.
Almost half of the movements this year (517,425) took place in Munster, while 327,826 were in Leinster, 135,330 in Connaught and 81,187 in Ulster.
March has been the busiest month so far this year in terms of farm-to-farm movements with almost 249,080 recorded.
There were 63,569 such movements notified to DAFM in the month of September.
The department noted that these movements are recorded by the province that the seller of the animals is located in.
According to the department’s live export figures, 309,286 cattle have been exported from Ireland in the first nine months of 2024, up from 283,671 in the same period last year.
There were just over 196,167 beef cattle and 113,119 dairy animals exported by the end of September 2024.