The National dairy cow population is continually increasing and has done so each and every year over the last decade.
Total dairy cow numbers for 2020 (as of 30th June) stood at 1,570,180, breaking the 1.5 million barrier for the second successive year. This figure rose 3.7% from 1,514,617 in 2019. The below table shows the national dairy cow population figures for the last 10 years broken down by county.
Cork remains home to the largest proportion of Irelands’ dairy herd with a total of 388,831 dairy cows (25%). This figure is over 200,000 higher than the dairy cow population in county Tipperary, which is the second most highly populated county with a figure of 178,253. Followed by Limerick with a cow population of 122,873, closely behind is Kerry with 105, 979 dairy cows.
Leitrim remains the county with the smallest population of dairy cows in the country with just 2,660. Dublin is coming in with 2,683 making them the second lowest populated county in Ireland for dairy cows.
The stats above and many more can be viewed anytime on the Statistics page which is located under ‘Publications’ in the dropdown menu.