The number of young bulls processed to date this year has fallen by 8,400 head on last year, according to latest beef kill figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
As of Sunday, June 11, a total of 60,238 young bulls had been processed at DAFM-approved sites this year. In the same time period last year, that figure stood at 68,700 head.
Young Bulls are classified as all bulls aged from 12 to 24-months-of-age so both under-16-month bulls and under-24-month bulls are included in this category.
The total beef kill in the week ending Sunday, June 11, was 31,390 – a drop of 628 head on the previous week.
The graph below shows weekly kill figures for this year compared to last year:
This year’s beef-supply trend has been much more stable when compared to the 2022 beef kill.
In the past 10 weeks of this year kill numbers varied from 30,000 -32,000 cattle/week. In the same 10-week period of last year, weekly kills varied in size from 30,000 head to 37,500 head of cattle.
The table below shows how the beef kill is looking in the first 23 weeks of this year compared to last year:
Type Week ending
June 11, 23Equivalent
Last YearCumulative
2023Cumulative
2022Young Bulls 3,380 3,178 60,238 68,700 Bulls 725 512 12,266 12,550 Steers 10,980 9,650 274,037 283,902 Cows 7,828 8,714 171,826 179,400 Heifers 8,477 8,016 218,906 227,715 Total 31,390 30,070 737,273 772,267
As can be seen from the table above, the supply of all cattle types has fallen this year. The cumulative beef kill to date this year stands at just over 737,000 head – a drop of almost 35,000 head on the same time period last year.
The total beef kill in 2022 was the highest since 1999 – 24 years ago.
Earlier this year, Bord Bia had forecast the 2023 supply of finished cattle to fall by 60,000 head on 2022 levels.