The latest sheep kill figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) have shown that the supply of ewes and rams sent for slaughter in 2023 will soon cross 240,000 head.
A total of 59,516 sheep was slaughtered in week 39 (ending Sunday, October 1), and taking a look at this year’s throughput figures to date, 2,123,512 sheep have been processed so far.
Of that figure, 980,761 have been hoggets, 904,200 were spring lambs, with the rest made up of ewes and rams (238,417), and a small portion of light lambs (134 head).
In week 39, 49,203 spring lambs were slaughtered, and a total of 904,200 have been slaughtered in 2023 so far.
The table below gives an overview of the sheep kill for the week ending Sunday, October 1, (week 39) and the cumulative kill to date this year compared to 2022:
Type 2023
week 392023 cumulative 2022 weekly 2022 cumulative Weekly
differenceCumulative difference 23 vs. 22 % cumulative difference Lambs/Hoggets 267 980,761 714 899,811 -447 80,950 9% Spring Lambs 49,203 904,200 52,455 978,297 -3,252 -74,097 -8% Ewes and Rams 10,047 238,417 12,061 275,975 -2,014 -37,558 -15% Light Lambs 0 134 2 116 -2 18 14% Total 59,516 2,123,512 65,232 2,154,199 -5,715 -30,687 -1%
As can be seen from the table above, the supply of spring lambs is back 8% or 74,097 head on the same time period as last year.
Ewe and ram throughput totalled 10,047 in week 39, bringing the total figure so far in 2023 to 238,417 slaughtered.
Sheep prices
The national weekly price in week 39 for deadweight sheep that were between 13-21.5kg and less than 12 months old was €616.43/100kg.
When compared with the same time period in 2022, the price was at €614.29/100kg, an increase of 0.3%.
The year to date average (YTD) however, has shown that the YTD average price is €667.67/100kg, a 4% decrease in the YTD of week 39 in 2022, which stood at €695.63/100kg.