NEW DELHI, Jan. 15 -- The number of calves registered to beef cows - suckler calf registrations in other words - has continued to fall, figures released by the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) show according to reports published in agriland.ie
This will be unsurprising to most, as many suckler farmers have struggled to just break-even in recent years, while some have moved away from suckler beef farming in search of more lucrative pastures.
In 2014, beef calf registrations stood at just over 928,000 head. While the abolition of the milk quotas in 2015 paved the way for an expansion of the national dairy herd, the number of beef calves registered in 2015 actually increased by 20,302 head and stood at just under 948,700 in 2015.
How...