Cattle numbers — every county ranked
Figures as of 2025, published by CSO PxStat. Accessed 2026-08-28.
Colour shows the 12-month change in cattle numbers, published by CSO for each county.
| Rank | County | Cattle numbers | Year on year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cork | 1,025,900 | -4.8% |
| 2 | Tipperary | 670,900 | -4.7% |
| 3 | Galway | 430,400 | -4.1% |
| 4 | Limerick | 424,500 | -5.2% |
| 5 | Kilkenny | 356,800 | -3.4% |
| 6 | Kerry | 321,200 | -4.9% |
| 7 | Meath | 314,100 | -2.1% |
| 8 | Wexford | 285,300 | -4.2% |
| 9 | Clare | 274,500 | -4.7% |
| 10 | Mayo | 260,600 | -4.8% |
| 11 | Waterford | 252,900 | -4.3% |
| 12 | Laois | 249,600 | -2.9% |
| 13 | Offaly | 244,000 | -2.7% |
| 14 | Westmeath | 229,000 | -2.2% |
| 15 | Cavan | 222,600 | -2.8% |
| 16 | Monaghan | 215,800 | -2.0% |
| 17 | Roscommon | 203,900 | -3.6% |
| 18 | Donegal | 181,100 | -1.6% |
| 19 | Kildare | 138,800 | -2.1% |
| 20 | Wicklow | 118,500 | -2.6% |
| 21 | Longford | 110,000 | -5.1% |
| 22 | Sligo | 104,900 | -3.8% |
| 23 | Carlow | 100,800 | -1.1% |
| 24 | Louth | 90,200 | -1.1% |
| 25 | Leitrim | 59,300 | -7.8% |
| 26 | Dublin | 20,500 | -1.4% |
Before you use these figures
- Dublin's herd is small enough that percentages swing hard: Dublin has by far the smallest cattle population of any county -- its bull count, for example, is typically only 100-200 head. A change of a few dozen animals there can read as a large percentage move that would be unremarkable anywhere else.
- Counted where the animal was, not where it was born or will be sold: An animal is attributed to the county of the holding it was on on 1 June. Young stock destined for finishing or export elsewhere is still counted at its current holding, so a county's figure describes what was standing in its fields that day, not local breeding or sales activity on its own.
- From the national cattle register, not a sample survey: CSO's own background notes say cattle figures are extracted from AIMS, the Animal Identification and Movement System -- the administrative register every animal's passport and ear tag feed -- as at 1 June each year. Unlike some other measures in the same release, this is close to a full administrative count, not a sample estimate.
- A snapshot on 1 June, not a year-round figure: Cattle numbers move throughout the year as calves are born and animals are moved, finished or exported. This is a single day's count, so only comparisons against the same date a year earlier are meaningful -- there is no month-to-month reading to make.