The weekly supply of finished cattle has failed to surpass 32,000 head for the entire month of March, according to the latest figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
The total number of cattle slaughtered at DAFM-approved factories in the first 13 weeks of this year stands at just over 425,500 head (excluding veal).
This year’s supply of finished cattle is now over 11,900 head behind last years’ supply and Bord Bia’s projections would indicate that supply is expected to fall further in the coming weeks.
Earlier this year, Bord Bia projected the supply of finished cattle in Ireland to fall by 50-60,000 head, or 3-4% on last year’s levels. The 2022 factory cattle supply was the highest in 23 years.
The reduced supply of finished cattle is expected to be seen primarily in the first half of the year and supplies are expected to increase in the second part of the year with extra cattle available in the final quarter of 2023.
The graph below shows how this years’ beef kill is comparing to last year:
As can be seen from the graph above, supplies of finished cattle were surprisingly strong in the first few weeks of the year and were only back by less than 1% due to a higher than expected cow throughput in the fist quarter of this year.
While it remains to be seen how available finished cattle will be in the second quarter of this year, early indications would suggest that supplies will remain well below last year’s levels with the supply-demand scenario firmly in the beef finishers’ favour, for the second quarter of this year at least.
The table below gives an overview of the beef kill in the first 13 weeks of this year compared to last year:
Type Week ending
April 2, 2023Equivalent
last yearCumulative
2023Cumulative
2022Young Bulls: 1,777 2,544 36,505 41,517 Bulls: 521 654 5,924 5,876 Steers: 12,279 13,600 152,985 158,119 Cows: 7,291 8,764 100,158 97,068 Heifers: 8,967 10,970 129,982 134,900 Total: 30,835 36,532 425,554 437,480
Notably, last week’s supply of finished cattle was almost 5,700 head below the equivalent week of 2022 which is a substantial drop.
Weeks 14 and 15 will see four-day kills at most factories due to Good Friday and Easter Monday, and while the availability of finished cattle appears to be falling, the two short weeks at most sites will reduce pressure on processors to secure supplies over these two weeks.