Number of livestock in spring of 2024

The number of cattle on farms in spring 2024 was three per cent lower than in the same period of the previous year. There were also fewer sheep and goats. The number of pigs was almost the same and the number of poultry was higher than in the previous year.

• In spring 2024, there were three per cent fewer cattle than in the same period of the previous year. There were 233 500 dairy cows (- 3%) and just over 63 000 suckler cows (- 2%).
• The number of pigs was almost the same as in the previous year, with around 650 holdings having pigs.  The number of sows fell by 1% to 69 300.
• There were around 15.3 million poultry on farms. There were 9.8 million broilers and around 4 million laying hens. There were also broilerhens, turkeys and chickens.
• There were just over 4.6 million places for laying hens on 223 holdings. About 70% of the places were in barn hen houses. There were 13.2 million broiler places on 174 holdings.
• The number of sheep decreased by 115 400, of which 59 200 (- 7%) were ewes in spring 2024.