![Registered cattle numbers over the past four years have continued to climb, with Angus recording the largest increase. Photo by Helen De Costa, graphic by Ben Jaffery. Registered cattle numbers over the past four years have continued to climb, with Angus recording the largest increase. Photo by Helen De Costa, graphic by Ben Jaffery.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/213266621/1d19d53c-9377-474e-a2c1-0058401040a6.png/r0_0_2475_1391_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The full tally of 2022 registered calves is finally in and numbers of registered cattle have exploded again on 2021 figures by an additional 14,551 head.
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This increase brings the total number of primary registered cattle to 172,650, resulting in a rise of 9.2 per cent on the previous year's 158,099 head, according to data released from the Australian Registered Cattle Breeders Association (ARCBA).
The primary registrations of the British breeds and Australian derivatives reached 86,771 head, the highest in the past 11 years, making up for 50.3pc of registrations.
The next highest portion of primary registrations recorded was by the tropical breeds, contributing 22.5pc with 38,772 head, while the European breeds made up 12.8pc with 22,082 cattle recorded on the database.
Other breeds, such as Wagyu, Speckle Park and Mandalong Specials, registered of 25,025 head, accounting for 14.5pc of the national registrations.
When it comes to the highest ranking primary registered breeds, Angus dominated with a total of 57,186 head for 2022, an increase of 8698 compared to the previous year.
Wagyu came in second with 20,334 head, and Herefords third with a total of 17,294 head, a reduction of 1023 primary registered cattle on 2021.
Brahmans took fourth place of the primary registered numbers with 12,698 and Charbrays followed closely behind with 11,383 head.
Secondary registrations also improved dramatically for the British breeds and tropical breeds, with an additional 16,788 head recorded in 2022 for British bred cattle to total 39,828 and an extra 3774 tropical cattle for a total of 37,828.
The total number of secondary registered cattle for 2022, came to a total of 85,234, compared to the 2021 total of 66,362, with the biggest contributing increase for the secondary registrations being Angus jumping from 21,272 head in 2021, to 37,050 in 2022.
Other breeds with notable increases to secondary registrations were Santa Gertrudis, rising from 8923 to 10,346, and Droughtmaster, increasing from 1676 to 3652 head.
The secondary registered recorded numbers represent the animals that were bred for seedstock production but were non-herd book registered.
The ratio of primary and secondary registered cattle has stayed consistent since 2007 to be around 70pc primary registrations and 30pc secondary registration, according to ACBRA.
However, for the individual breed rankings for both primary and secondary registrations, Angus came out on top with a total of 96,236 head, making up 36.65pc of all registrations.
Brahmans were second with 33,900 head, recording 13.19pc of overall registered cattle, and Wagyus third with 24,572 registrations.
Herefords claimed fourth spot with 19,302 head, followed by Santa Gertrudis with 18,296 head.