Irish greyhound breeding continued its slump with a further 7.5% decline in 2016 writes Floyd Amphlett.
A total of 2,520 litters were registered, down 189 on the previous year. It is the lowest number recorded since pre-war and is significant to racing since more than 90% of UK racers are Irish bred.
Interestingly, the number of new greyhounds registered with GBGB barely flickered at 7,604, down just 87 from the 7,691 of the previous year and higher than the two years prior to that.
Of course, there is a time lag between litters born and racing, and the numbers available for racing. That is reflected in the 2016 namings (mainly 2015 whelps). That figure was 13,967, a dip of around 9%. It is worth remembering that this figure includes coursing bred hounds plus some adult racing dogs who never reach the track.
A cursory look at the graph shows a general decline in both sets of figures until the last four years when UK racing registrations leveled out while litter numbers continued to fall.
