The number of dairy cows in Ireland rose 0.6% to more than 1.49 million in the year to December 2025.
New figures from the Central Statistical Office (CSO) show that the total livestock population fell by 24,200 to 6.28 million (-0.4%).
While the number of dairy cows increased, the number of other cows decreased by 2.2% to 750,600.
Sheep numbers rose by 98,000 (+2.7%) to more than 3.68 million.
The number of breeding sheep increased by 25,400 (+1%) to reach 2.6 million, while the number of other sheep increased by 72,600 (+7%) to reach 1.1 million.
The total number of pigs in the state reached more than 1.45 million pigs in December 2025, of which 50% were in the southern region (729 thousand pigs).
Livestock gatherings
Civil society organizations today (Tuesday, May 12) published figures on livestock numbers for December 2025.
Commenting on this release, Stephanie Kelleher, a statistician in the Department of Agriculture at the Central Bureau of Statistics, said: “The Livestock Number Series provides estimates of the numbers of livestock (cows, pigs, sheep and goats) in December of each year.
“For December 2025, these estimates are derived exclusively from administrative source datasets conducted by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.”
Beginning in 2025, the estimated number of hogs in the state is determined by the National Hog Census conducted by the Department.
regional
Regional analysis of livestock numbers shows that the largest number of livestock (more than 1.22 million) was in the Midwest region.
Cork is the county with the largest cattle population at 915,300 head.
In terms of dairy cows, Cork (352,700) has more than the North and West (179,000) or East and Central (268,600).
Figures from civil society organizations show that the largest number of pigs was in the border region (330,700), while the smallest number of pigs was in the western region (35,500).
The Western region had the highest number of sheep (1.02 million) while the Midwest region had the lowest number of sheep (152,900).
