The number of dairy calves registered in the week ending 21 February 2025 was over 26,000 head lower year-on-year.

The initiative was developed to help protect older farmers’ sense of purpose and social connectedness within the farming community in later life.

Farm land prices in Armagh and Down are the highest anywhere in NI and potentially the whole of the UK.

Across NI overall, the lift in the land market happened even though the total supply of land offered up for sale hit a five year high during 2024.

Down remains the second most expensive county in Northern Ireland for agricultural land and it ranks in third place across the whole island.

Dairygold CEO Michael Harte acknowledged the issues farmers raised in relation to milk price and the recently announced loyalty bonus scheme.

Overall, there were 487 parcels of land publicly offered up in Northern Ireland during 2024, which makes the average lot 28 acres in size.

The latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates was published this week by the USDA, which cut global wheat production estimates to 792.95 million tonnes.

Fat content for October 2024 was 4.93%, also up marginally from 4.92% in October 2023.