Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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226. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the equine industry cull rate (details supplied). [13339/18]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Dairy and beef culling rates are in general estimated from data stored in DAFM data bases for the bovine species. It is normally calculated from the numbers estimated as leaving the national herd compared to the total number of calvings in a year. 

However this type of in-depth information on equines is not available at the moment. In addition, equines are bred for multiple purposes and on average have much longer life longevity compared to other farm species which would add to the complexity of such a calculation.