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Irish breeding sheep numbers increase again
Thursday, 30 September 2021
Provisional results from the Irish June Livestock Survey show that the total number of sheep in Ireland rose by 1.4% year-on-year to 5.6 million.
This growth was driven by expansion in the breeding flock, specifically ewes aged two years and over. Numbers of younger ewes also increased, but to a lesser extent.
On the other hand, numbers of “other” sheep (for slaughter) fell by 1.4% (37,000 head) to 2.7 million. All other things being equal we would have expected for there to be a rise in the number of lambs, reflecting the increase in ewes. While this may raise some questions over the accuracy of the survey, the England June survey results record a similar trend. Industry reports also suggest competition for store lambs is hot due to demand out stripping supply.
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