The unfavourable weather conditions for grazing to date this spring are expected to delay the arrival of finished beef cattle off grass later this year, which could further compound the off-season cattle supply dip.
Generally, from mid-June onwards, finished grass cattle begin appearing at factory lairages with heifers traditionally finishing first, followed by bullocks later in the season.
While weather conditions are expected to improve, livestock performance on grass during the cold, wet conditions experienced in March and early April was reduced as additional energy is needed for cattle to regulate body heat in cold and wet weather.
In the past three consecutive weeks, over 19,000 fewer cattle have been slaughtered at Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) approved factories compared to the same three weeks of last year.
The table below gives a breakdown of the beef kill for week 14 of this year versus last year and a comparison of the total beef kill to date:
The table below shows Week ending
April 9Equivalent
last yearCumulative
2023Cumulative
2022Young Bulls 1,416 2,252 37,921 43,769 Bulls 511 672 6,435 6,548 Steers 12,208 15,262 165,193 173,381 Cows 6,907 8,481 107,065 105,549 Heifers 9,089 10,887 139,071 145,787 Total 30,131 37,554 455,685 475,034
As the table above shows, the supply of cows is beginning to ease following a prolonged period of high weekly cow kills. The higher than expected supply of cows in the first quarter of this year helped maintain weekly cattle kills at higher levels that were higher than expected.
The supply of heifers and steers is back on last year’s levels in line with Bord Bia’s projections.
The graph below shows the weekly supply of cattle this year compared to last year:
Weekly supplies of cattle are expected to remain below last year’s levels for the second quarter of the year at the least.
The cumulative beef kill in the first 15 weeks of this year is now over 19,000 head behind the same time period last year (excluding veal).