UK figures Supplied by Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Irish figures courtesy of Central Statistics Office of Ireland (CSO).

Table 1: UK Monthly Slaughter Estimates

All figures expressed as '000 head

United Kingdom               September 2003        October 2003          November 2003

                                          4 weeks                       5 weeks                      4 weeks

Steers                                      87                                108                           85

Heifers                                    57                                76                             69

Young Bulls                               30                                37                            32

Cows and Adult Bulls                0                                  0                               0

Calves                                       9                                  12                             10

Other Sheep and Lambs            1197                             1554                          1205

Ewes and Rams                         156                               218                           165

Clean Pigs                                 727                              900                           735

Sows and Boars                        18                                 22                             18

Table 2: Irish livestock slaughterings, October 2003

All figures expressed as '000 head

Cattle                           Sheep                           Pigs

Oct 2002                      182.8                            336.1                            295.1

Oct 2003                      193.6                            281.7                            273.5

% change                      +5.9%                           -16.2%                          -7.3%

Jan-Oct 2003/2002     +5.4%                           -2.1%                            -7.4%

Cattle slaughterings up 5.9% in October

The number of cattle slaughtered in October 2003 was 5.9% higher than in October

2002.

A comparison of October 2003 and 2002 figures shows that:

Sheep slaughterings decreased by 16.2%.

Pig slaughterings decreased by 7.3%.

The number of sheep slaughterings in January-October 2003 was 2.1% lower than the corresponding 2002 figure. Over the same period there was an increase of 5.4% in the number of cattle slaughterings, while pig slaughterings decreased by 7.4%.

EU pig slaughterings figures for the periods January to April 2002 and 2003 increased 1.1%. Spain, Germany, Denmark and France recorded increases of 7.8%, 2.8%, 1.8% and 0.7% respectively. The Netherlands recorded a decrease of 12.2%.

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