The number of cattle slaughtered in Ireland in July 2024 was 8.5% higher than the same month of 2023, according to livestock slaughtering data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
There was also an increase in cattle slaughterings noted for the first seven months of the year compared to the same period of last year, although the rate of increase was not as high, rising about 1.6%.
The number of cattle slaughtered last month stood at around 156,600 head, up from around 144,300 head in July of last year.
Cattle slaughtering in the year so far to July is estimated to be approximately 1.073 million head, increasing by about 17,000 head on the same period of 2023.
The number of cattle slaughtered in the first seven months of 2022, 2023 and 2024 has remained fairly stable over those three calendar years, ranging from 1.056 million last year to 1.085 million in 2022.
Stability also largely characterised the month-by-month cattle slaughterings for the seven months so far this year, with numbers falling between 150,000-166,000 head until June, when there was a slight dip to 127,000, followed by a recovery last month.
Turning to the sheep sector, in the first seven months of the year sheep slaughterings decreased by 8.5% on the same period in 2023, and also decreased in July 2024 compared to July 2023, but much more marginally, falling by 0.3%.
In July 2024, some 248,000 head of sheep were slaughtered, a very slight decrease of just around 800 head.
However, in the first seven months of the year, around 152,000 less sheep were slaughtered compared to that period of 2023, with around 1.63 million head slaughtered so far this year.
In the the first seven months of both 2022 and 2023, the number of sheep slaughtered was in excess of 1.75 million head.
Month-by-month, the number of sheep slaughtered in July was around 27,000 higher than in June. March saw the highest monthly sheep slaughtering figure for the year so far, at 272,000.
In the pig sector, slaughterings increased by 12.7% in July 2024 compared to July 2023, rising from around 261,800 to around 295,000.
There was also an increase for the first seven months of the year, but only of 0.5%, with the number of pigs slaughtered in 2024 up to July standing at around 1.93 million head, compared to 1.92 million head for the first seven months of 2024.
The slight increase in pig slaughterings for the first seven months still leaves the figure lower than the same period of 2022, when some 2.15 million pigs were slaughtered in that period of that year.
Month-by-month, pig slaughterings in July were at their second-highest level for the year, with only January (298,000 head) seeing more pigs slaughtered.