Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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473. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the calf mortality rates by month, county and sector in each of the years 2017, 2018 and to date in 2019, in tabular form. [43460/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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My Department does not have the information sought by the Deputy on calf mortality rates in the precise format requested. However, I am in a position to provide the 6 month mortality rates on a per county and sectoral basis for the calendar years 2016-2018 (inclusive) as detailed in the following Table.

Herds are categorised as a dairy where a milk supply contract is in place for that calendar year. All other herds are categorised as 'other farms'.

The herd six-month calf mortality rate was calculated as the number of deaths recorded in animals less than six months of age divided by the total number of births for each year in each herd. The Table presents the average herd six-month mortality rate for dairy and other herds per county for the years 2016 to 2018. The six-month mortality rates were estimated to be 5.3 to 6.0% for dairy herds between 2016 and 2018 while mean herd six-month calf mortality rates varied between 4.7% and 5.8% in other (non-dairy) herds. These rates are within the normal expected range.