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X-axis label | All Cattle | Dairy Cows | Other Cows | Other Cattle |
1991 | 46 | 27 | 9 | 34 |
2000 | 57 | 37 | 14 | 38 |
2010 | 60 | 58 | 14 | 40 |
2020 | 70 | 90 | 15 | 46 |
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- The number of farms with cattle has fallen consistently between each Census of Agriculture since 1991. This trend was also observed for each category of animal (dairy cows, other cows and other cattle) as shown in Table 4.1.
- The actual number of animals has fluctuated for total cattle and all the cattle categories between 1991 and 2020.
- Between 2010 and 2020, there was a 46.4% increase in the dairy cow herd, a 15.1% decrease in the other cow herd and an 8.8% increase in all other cattle. This combined to establish a 10.7% increase in total cattle.
- There were 1,567,681 dairy cows in 2020, the highest dairy herd total recorded in a Census of Agriculture. There are fewer farms now with dairy cows (17,495) in 2020 compared with 31,809 in 2000. The average size of herd is now 90 dairy cows, which is 53 greater than in 2000.
Table 4.1 Number of farms with cattle, number of cattle and average per farm (1991 - 2020)
Map 4.1 Number of farms with dairy cows per county

Map 4.2 Number of dairy cows per county

Map 4.3 Average number of dairy cows per county
- The distribution by county of number of farms with dairy cows and number of dairy cows broadly coincide (Maps 4.1 and 4.2).
- County Cork contained 4,094 farms with dairy cows and 389,123 dairy cows. This was 123% more farms with dairy cows and 116% more dairy cows than Tipperary, the county with the second most of each.
- Counties in the Southern NUTS 2 region excluding Clare and Carlow accounted for two thirds of farms with dairy cows and two thirds of the number of dairy cows (11,479 farms and 1,071,897 cows) in 2020.
- Farms in the Eastern and Midland NUTS 2 region on average had larger dairy cow herd size than in the Southern NUTS 2 region (Map 4.3). The average dairy cow herd size in the Eastern and Midland NUTS 2 region was 101 dairy cows.
- Waterford, Meath and Louth had the largest average dairy cow herd size, 113 dairy cows, 112 dairy cows and 110 dairy cows respectively.
Table 4.2 Cattle by region and county, 2020