Latest beef kill figures show just under 34,900 (34,881) cattle were slaughtered at Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM)-approved factories in the week ending Sunday, September 1.
This marks an increase of over 1,800 head on the number of cattle slaughtered in the previous week, as supplies have been on the rise since early August.
Cow supplies are remaining strong and were up over 400 head on the previous week. 63% of the cow kill last week graded a P and 10.2% of the cow kill last week graded a P1.
The graph below shows the increase in the total beef kill last week and also shows supplies are trending differently to last year:
As can be seen from the graph above, supplies were in decline this time last year, but are increasing this year.
Weather conditions can often have an impact on supply trends at this time of year, as wet conditions often bring out larger volumes of factory-fit cattle and dry, sunny weeks can see a dip in supplies.
The general consensus around the country is that cattle have not performed as well at grass this year as other years with reduced weight gains from cattle at grass being recorded in general.
Despite this, March 2022 born cattle are now approaching 30-months-of-age and many farmers will be anxious to move these cattle on before they go overage, regardless of these reduced weight gains.
Where farmers have been feeding concentrates to cattle at grass, this reduced weight gain trend was not as apparent.
The table below details the beef kill for the week ending Sunday, September 1, versus the same week of last year and the cumulative beef kill this year versus last year:
Type Week ending Sep 1, 2024 Equivalent
Last YearCumulative
2024Cumulative
2023Young bulls 923 1,366 78,960 85,809 Bulls 591 587 20,416 19,797 Steers 16,121 16,354 427,813 442,077 Cows 7,748 6,359 288,571 261,367 Heifers 9,498 8,627 332,306 324,844 Total 34,881 33,293 1,148,066 1,133,894
Larger cow and heifer kills and reduced steer and young bull kills remain apparent, a trend which has been evident in the past number of weeks.
After five consecutive weeks with weekly beef kills below the equivalent weeks of last year, last week seen supplies edge above the equivalent week of last year.
The cumulative beef kill this year remains over 14,000 head above last year. The cumulative cow kill this year is over 27,200 cows above last year.