The number of cattle slaughtered in May 2025 was 10.6% lower than for the same month of 2024, according to data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The CSO's latest livestock slaughterings figures show that around 135,000 head of cattle were slaughtered in May this year, a decrease of almost 16,000 on the 150,900 figure for May 2024.

In terms of carcass weight, this represented a decrease from 48,800t to 44,000t.

The number of cattle slaughtered in the first five months of the year also decreased, but more marginally.

From January to May of 2025, some 777,000 head were slaughtered, a decrease of around 1.6% on the 789,000 figure for the same period of 2024.

On a month-on-month basis (April 2025 to May 2025), the number of cattle slaughtered decreased from 159,200 head to 135,000 head.

Turning to sheep, the number slaughtered in May 2025 decreased by 13.2% compared to the same month of 2024, from 214,700 head to 186,400 head.

This reflected a decrease in carcass weight from 4,800t to 4,300t.

The rate of decrease in sheep slaughter numbers was even higher for the first five months of the year, decreasing by 16.4% from 1.16 million head to 973,200 head compared to the first five months of 2024.

From April 2025 to May 2025, the number of sheep slaughtered decreased from 205,900 head to 186,400 head.

For pigs, the numbers were more marginal, with only a 0.8% decrease in the number slaughtered from May 2024 to May 2025, falling from 287,200 head to 284,800 head.

In carcass weight terms, the pig slaughtering numbers gave rise to very slight increase, from 26,800t to 26,900t.

In the first five months of 2025, the number of pigs slaughtered increased by 1.6% compared to the same period in 2024, from around 1.4 million head to 1.49 million head.

On a month-by-month basis, from April 2025 to May 2025, the number of pigs slaughtered decreased from 291,500 head to 284,800 head.