Over 1.88 million cattle were sold at Irish marts in 2024, an increase of 340,000 from the 1.54 million cattle sold at Irish marts five years ago in 2019.
The number of cattle that went through a mart and were unsold declined by 35,000 head in that five-year period with 124,438 cattle returning home from the mart unsold in 2019 versus the 89,435 head of cattle returning home from the mart unsold in 2024.
These increases were seen in each of the four provinces (of the Republic of Ireland) with Munster seeing the largest volume of cattle sales.
The table below details the number of cattle sold at Irish marts by province in 2024 compared to five years ago in 2019:
Year Connacht Leinster Munster Ulster 2019 307,231 343,627 737,729 155,835 2024 367,964 440,295 897,524 179,076 Difference +60,733 +96,668 +159,795 +23,241
As the table above indicates, the largest increase in sale numbers at marts was seen in Munster with over 159,000 additional cattle sold in Munster marts in 2024 compared to 2019.
Cattle sales at marts in Leinster increased by almost 97,000 head in that time period with cattle sales at marts in Connacht and Ulster (ROI) increasing by over 60,000 and over 23,000 head respectively.
The DAFM figures do not specify the age of these cattle at sale but the trends reflect the continued popularity of the livestock mart among Irish farmers as an outlet to sell their cattle.
The number of farm-to-farm movements of cattle in 2024 stood at 1.34 million up 39,000 head from the 1.30 million cattle traded from farm to farm in 2019.
The table below details the number of cattle sold from farm-to-farm by province in 2024 compared to five years ago in 2019:
Year Connacht Leinster Munster Ulster 2019 173,160 398,168 635,477 95,371 2024 183,699 419,296 635,853 102,529 Difference +10,539 +21,128 +376 +7,158
Interestingly, the most significant increase in farm-to-farm cattle sales was seen in Leinster with the number of cattle sold privately in Munster actually on par with 2019.