Despite spring calving now starting to wind down, the total number of Irish calves registered in 2026 is barrelling towards 1.5 million.

According to data from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), 1,427,289 calves have been registered as of Friday, April 10.

However, both beef and dairy were back on last year's figures for the second week in a row, meaning registrations are now only 20,528 ahead of last year's figures, compared to three weeks ago when we were running 37,936 ahead of the same timeframe in 2025.

There was a total of 82,801 calves registered in the last week alone, according to ICBF, which is 19,011 less than last week, and 13,475 less than what was registered in the same week last year.

Dairy calf registrations

A total of 83% of all calves registered in 2026 have been to dairy dams, bringing the total number of dairy registered calves up to 1,186,953.

The total dairy registrations are still running 12,648 head above 2025 figures.

During the week, 56,503 calves were registered to dairy dams, which is 15,736 less than last week.

Interestingly, the number of calves registered to dairy dams this week is also back by 7,476 on the same week in 2025.

This shows how compact the spring calving season has become, with dairy farms calving down far more vigorously in February, before gradually easing off throughout March.

The peak week for dairy calf registrations was the week ending February 20, with a total 167,152 calves registered to dairy dams in that week alone, which followed through into the following week (ending February 27) as 166,101 calves were registered to dairy dams.

Beef

Beef calves are holding steady this year, with one in six calf births in 2026 being registered to beef dams.

The total number of calves registered to beef dams has reached 240,336 for the year-to-date, which is 7,880 more calves than the same time last year.

There was 26,298 calves registered to beef dams in the last week alone, which is actually down from 32,297 during the same week in 2025.

The week ending March 27 saw a peak of weekly suckler registrations, with 31,683 calves registered to beef dams in that week alone.