The number of cattle in the State has fallen to 1993 levels even before the introduction of decoupling which will see the link broken between the number of animals on a farm and EU subsidies.
Figures released by the Central Statistics Office yesterday showed there are now 6.2 million cattle in the State, a fall of 1.7 per cent on the previous year.
The decline of more than 100,000 cattle was largely due to decreases of more than 7 per cent in male cattle aged two years and over and in male cattle under one year.
However, the figures showed, an increase of nearly 10,000 dairy heifers, a rise of 4½ per cent.
Cattle numbers in Ireland rose to well over seven million in 1998 but have continued to fall since then back to the December figure.
The ending of the system of farming subsidies, where the farmers' direct payments were based on the number of livestock on a farm, will end on January 1st next year when the Fischler reforms come into place.
The CSO livestock survey found that, while there was a slight increase in the number of sheep in the State, 0.4 per cent, there was a drop of 1.5 per cent in the breeding flock of 1½ per cent to 4.8 million.
The largest decrease in livestock was in pigs where the total numbers fell by nearly 50,000, to 1.7 million.
Breeding pigs decreased by nearly 8,000 and others by nearly 43,000.
For its size, Ireland has one of the largest national cattle herds in the EU, almost equal to Spain and Italy.
France, with 19.7 million cattle, has the largest herd in the EU followed by Germany with 13.7 million and the UK with 10.3 million.
Italy, France, Greece, Spain and the UK have larger sheep numbers than Ireland, which has a smaller pig population than most other European countries.