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

All figures expressed as ‘000 head

 

Table 1: UK monthly slaughter estimates

March 2006

Monthly estimates of the number of cattle, sheep and pigs slaughtered for meat in the United Kingdom are given in the table below. They are shown in statistical months.

 

                                       January 2006          February 2006          March 2006

                                          5 weeks                    4 weeks                     4 weeks

 

Steers                                   103                          81                                  85

Heifers                                    87                          72                                  71

Young Bulls                            28                          22                                  23

Cows and Adult Bulls              16                          17                                  15

Calves                                    7                            6                                    5

Other Sheep and Lambs       1312                        1027                              1021

Ewes and Rams                   210                         164                                169

Clean Pigs                           817                         683                                679

Sows and Boars                   17                            14                                  15

 

Table 2: Irish Livestock Slaughterings

March 2006 

                                         Cattle                        Sheep                              Pigs

March 2005                        139.0                          272.6                              227.6

March 2006                        159.2                          227.5                              216.9

 

Jan-Mar 2006/2005           +22.4%                        -6.6%                              -1.1%

 

Cattle slaughterings up 14.5% in March

The number of cattle slaughtered in March 2006 was 14.5% higher than in March

2005.

A comparison of March 2006 and 2005 figures shows that:

_ Sheep slaughterings decreased by 16.5%

_ Pig slaughterings decreased by 4.7%

The number of cattle slaughterings in January-March 2006 was 22.4% higher than the corresponding 2005 figure. Over the same period there was a decrease of 6.6% in sheep slaughterings and 1.1% in pig slaughterings.

EU-25 sheep slaughtering figures for the periods January to December 2004 and 2005 decreased by 1.1%. Spain, France and Greece recorded decreases of 4.9%, 2.6% and 1.5% respectively. The United Kingdom recorded an increase of 3.9 %.