British breeding looks set for an upsurge in 2021 following the issues around Covid in 2020.
Latest figures from the Greyhound Stud Book show 119 litters compared to 142 for 2020. However due to a *lag in the time between pups being born and registered, we should eventually see a significant increase.
(*Breeders have three months to register their litters. So for example, there were 17 July litters registered, but only four for October, thus far).
In addition to the busy Irish sires (Droopys Sydney 9, Magical Bale 6), UK based sires Ice On Fire (13) and Hiya Butt (10) are ticking over nicely.
The tally to date is 777 pups (408 dogs, 369 bitches) resulting in an expected average of around 6.5 pups per litter. Irish pups still outnumber British breds by at least 10:1.
British litters: 2010-142 2019-216 2018-220 2017-217 2016-239
Irish litter: 2020-1,962 2019-2,324 2018-2,344 2017-2,441 2016-2,520