date:Feb 28, 2014
of cattle present on farms.
The DARD survey also found there was a six per cent fall in the size of the sheep breeding flock between December 2012 and December 2013. It now stands at 864,600 which is the lowest level recorded since 2008.
As with cattle, increasing input costs has put downward pressure on margins, while bad weather (especially in Spring 2013) increased losses, it said. Ewe lambs entering the breeding flock at the end of 2013 are down by over 20 per cent compared with the previ