The population of cattle in Great Britain increased by 0.3% year-on-year in July, the latest data from the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) shows.
The total cattle population reached 8 million head - up 20,800 - in July 2021, continuing the uplift in numbers seen throughout 2022.
The number of females over 30 months - an indication of the breeding herd - stood at 2.76 million, back 2% on July 2021.
This decrease was evenly split between dairy and beef animals, back 2% and 2.1% respectively, and continues the longer-term trend for GB cow numbers.
BCMS's new data also shows that cattle under 30 months saw an overall increase of 1.6% - up 80,600 head - totalling 5.15 million head.
Dairy males were the only category to see a decline - of 9% - with the fall weighted towards animals under 12 months old, down 29,300 head.
The increased use of sexed dairy and beef semen may account for some of this change.
While dairy males saw declines, growth came in other categories. Total youngstock, under 12 months old, held relatively steady on 2021 numbers, up 0.1% to 2.47m head. Beef animals saw a 1% increase, and dairy females saw a 2% rise.
Drilling into the BCMS's data, the total number of animals under six months decreased by 1.2 percent.
This appears to have been due to fewer dairy animals born - 2% decrease for dairy females and 24% decrease for dairy males - with small rises seen for beef animals, up 0.2% for females and 0.7% for males.
Cattle available for beef production - dairy males plus beef males and females aged between 12-30 months, accounting for suckler replacements - saw an overall increase of 3%, totalling 1.8m head.
All categories had increases, with the BCMS's data showing dairy males up 5%, beef females up 2% , and beef males up 3%.
