Beef kill: Cattle supply down 5,300 head in past 2 weeks

Latest beef kill figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) shows that the number of cattle slaughtered in the two weeks up to Sunday, August 18, dropped by just under 5,300 head (5,284) compared to the same two weeks of last year.

In the week ending Sunday, August 18, of this year, a total of 32,036 cattle were slaughtered at DAFM approved factories – back 2,682 head from the 34,718 cattle slaughtered in the same week of last year.

In the week ending Sunday, August 11 this year, the number of cattle slaughtered totalled 30,665 – back 2,602 head from the 33,267 head of cattle slaughtered in the same week of last year.

The graph below details how weekly beef kills over the past 12 weeks have been comparing to the same 12 weeks of last year:

While the past four consecutive weeks have seen lower kills than the same four weeks of last year, the total beef kill this year remains 14,000 cattle above last year with strong cattle supplies in the first five months of the year attributing to this.

Procurement staff had expected supplies of cattle for August to be stronger than what has materialised to date but Bord Bia had warned earlier this year of an overall decline of somewhere between 30-40,000 head for the year.

Bord Bia has forecasted that the strong cow kill would be maintained this year, a trend which has also materialised this year.

The table below details the beef kill for the week ending Sunday, August 18 versus the same week of last year and the cumulative beef kill this year versus last year:

The cumulative cow kill this year remains over 25,000 head above last year, while the young bull and steer kill numbers have declined.

Heifer supplies last week were almost 1,000 head below last year and steer supplies last week were 1,700 head below last year.