The week following the June bank holiday weekend seen a significant drop-off in beef kill figures, with the lowest weekly kill recorded this year.
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) beef kill figures show that just under 28,500 cattle (excluding veal) were slaughtered in the week ending Sunday, June 9.
While Monday, June 3, was a bank holiday, which resulted in a four-day kill at most sites, the overall supply of cattle last week is understood to be the lowest weekly mid-season kill of cattle since May 2021.
The graph below shows how weekly factory cattle supplies have dropped off since April this year:
It is unusual to see finished cattle supplies dropping below 30,000 head, even in a four-day week and it will be interesting to see if supplies bounce back for this week or if kill figures remain subdued.
The drop off in beef kill figures over the past few weeks has been predominantly due to tightening supplies of finished cattle, while demand for beef appears to be remaining on positive footing.
Supplies of cattle tend to tighten around this time of year, as grass cattle may not be fit and shed cattle are less available and that trend is expected to be exacerbated this year due to the late turnout to grass and subdued performance of cattle at grass.
The table below gives an overview of the beef kill in the week ending Sunday, June 9, versus the same week last year and the total kill this year versus the same time period of last year:
Animal Week ending
Sunday, June 9,Equivalent
Last YearCumulative
2024Cumulative
2023Young Bulls 2,984 3,380 56,297 60,238 Bulls 678 725 12,003 12,208 Steers 9,590 10,980 276,849 274,041 Cows 7,427 7,828 189,783 171,831 Heifers 7,815 8,477 228,017 218,907 Total 28,494 31,390 762,949 737,225
As the table above indicates, the cumulative beef kill this year remains almost 26,000 head above last year, due to strong weekly kill figures in the first four months of the year.
Despite this, Bord Bia has forecast factory cattle supplies for 2024 to see an overall decline of somewhere between 30-40,000 head of cattle.
Looking at the calf slaughter figures at DAFM-approved factories this year and just under 19,000 calves have been slaughtered in Category V, which includes all calves slaughtered under eight months of age.
This figure is 11,483 head of calves below the 30,386 calves that had been slaughtered in the same time period of last year.